


Dawn

by BlazinFae



Series: Dawn/Dusk [1]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: F/M, Who's ready for a long ass fic!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-19 12:37:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 31
Words: 72,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22744648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlazinFae/pseuds/BlazinFae
Summary: Princess-general Kahlahari of Mirkwood had always had a knack for getting herself into all sorts trouble. Her father, sadly a rather short tempered Elf, has had enough of it and banished her from his kingdom.Kahlahari spends the next two decades hunting in Bree, where she meets Gandalf. He recruits her to be his apprentice, but that doesn't work out either. After fifty years and a fancy (since revoked) title, she finds herself back in Bree, under a new name and a human disguise. She meets Gandalf yet again, who tells her of an all too familiar Dwarven kingdom that needs reclaiming.Kahlahari soon finds herself amongst thirteen Dwarves, a Hobbit and a Wizard and sets out on a journey that would forever change her life.
Relationships: Thorin Oakenshield/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Dawn/Dusk [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1673419
Comments: 5
Kudos: 37





	1. Kahlahari, do yourself a favour for once and shut up.

**Author's Note:**

> As is par for the course with uhh... everything I write, the first two chapters tell you who the main character is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~this is Elvish~  
> *this is Khuzdul*

~-Seven decades ago-~

The Elvish army halted at the top of Ravenhill, their armour shining in the weak light that managed to come through the smokey air. The hilltop was large enough for the full army to see what was happening, but we remained in formation so only the front lines could see.  
The king, mounted on his elk, strode lazily and arrogantly to the front lines and halted in between two generals; his offspring; my brother and me. 

When I'd seen the still smoking pile of ash and rubble that was once Dale, I thought it couldn't get any worse.  
I was wrong. The very gates of Erebor seemed to spew fire as increasingly burned and injured Dwarves fled out. A small group of Dwarves stood so close to the entrance that the heat nearly scorched them. They had their weapons drawn and seemed to want to go back inside to end the beast.

That was what we were here for, so I raised my sword to order the army to engage. I couldn't fully raise my arm because my bulky armour got in the way. My father insisted I wear this instead of my hunting gear, because it would protect me better. It fit perfectly, as was to be expected of customly fitted armour. But it was also very heavy and I couldn't move as freely as I would have liked. Because of this, I may have almost tripped once or twice on the way here but no one saw that. 

I hope.

"~Kahlahari, no,~" my father called down to me in our native tongue. I lowered the sword a little, more out of shock than obedience.  
I turned and looked up, glaring at my father, as I often did since my mother had died many decades ago. "~Surely we didn't march all the way to the Lonely Mountain just to stand and watch?~" I asked. I looked behind me and saw that not a single soldier had followed my order.

Cowards.

"~This is a fight against a Fire Drake. They cannot possibly win.~"  
"~They can't if we stand here and do nothing!~"  
"~I will not risk the lives of my people and my children to save a battle that is already lost! We will return home.~"  
He was looking at a point past me now. When I looked behind me at the fleeing, wounded, desperate Dwarves, most of them were looking our way in hope. My father might not want to lift a finger, but I was headstrong, and couldn't condemn the remaining Dwarves to their deaths.  
"~They will die, and their blood will be on our hands!~" My anger would surely be audible trough my voice now. I didn't raise it but it did break somewhere along the way. "~How would you like to watch them stand on a hill as a dragon burns down the forest?~"  
"~They are mortal, Kahlahari. They will die today, tomorrow and a hundred decades from now. But we are immortal and I will not risk spilling that blood~." 

He turned his elk around and trotted off, his army followed him, but I did not. The order of the king outweighed the order of the general and sometimes the soldiers preemptively didn't follow mine because they knew my father would overwrite them in about five seconds. I understood that, his word was law after all, but I did find it to be quite bothersome. At least pretend you're listening to me.  
"~You bring your whole army to the top of a hill to stand there as a- as a beacon of- of hope... and you turn away from them! Allies are supposed to watch eachother's backs and protect eachother.~" My voice was raised now and I started tripping over my own words in rage. How very un-Elvish of me. "~You betrayed them!~"

I should've probably kept that last part in my head. My father turned around looking very angry and Legolas's expression read something like 'very well done sister, you've gone and gotten yourself killed'. Which was a very reassuring look, thanks a bunch dear brother, remind me to gut you later.  
"~I owe no allegiance to those mortals.~"  
Yes, you do. Since you were the one to agree in the first place. 

Instead of saying that, I panicked and said the stupidest thing imaginable. "~And I owe no allegiance to a king who would see a whole kingdom be incinerated rather than shift his royal butt to help them!~"  
Yeah! Way to go Kahlahari!  
Legolas groaned and went ahead, leading the army home while our father and I fought for the last word.

-~-

As soon as we got home I was pulled aside by Legolas. "~Has an arrow pierced your head!?~" he asked rhetorically.  
"~Has one?~" I felt around my head before I shrugged and stalked off. He let me. He probably thought a bit of rest would do me good. I never did like long marches while stuck in a hot metal prison. Especially not when it's a pointless return trip. I knew he disliked that too, just as anyone else. 

When I got to my chambers, the first thing I did was to get rid of my armour. Easier said than done. Usually there are people to help you but now I was doing it alone. When I finally succeeded in wriggling out of my shiny, form-fitted prison, I collapsed on the bed. I was planning to blow off some steam when we got but the long walk home had calmed me considerably. The sky outside my window had darkened already. I hadn't eaten since we first left yesterday morning, but I was too tired to even move, so I let myself drift off to sleep. Only it didn't last very long, the sun hadn't come up yet by the time I woke up. The tiredness was gone, though I was still hungry. I donned my hunting gear, grabbed my bow and made my way outside with the intention to hunt. Just to clear my head of the images of the wounded Dwarves fleeing their home. First I'll drop by the kitchens to sneak some food with me though.

To go outside, one usually had to go through the throne room, unless you jumped out my window and onto the low-hanging branches, which I regrettably did not.  
"~Where do you think you're going?~" I turned and saw father sitting high and mighty on his throne. A judging sneer on his face. Seeing him reignited my anger. You'd think he would have gone to bed after such a long day. What time was it anyway?

People say that I got my dashing good looks from my mother. There is a running joke among the Elves of Mirkwood that I am illegitimate, because I don't look like my father at all. They said that the only way you could really see that I was his daughter was if you got me angry. Which is inadvisable, because I've been told that I've got quite the temper. Anyway, they say both mine and my father's face have a dangerous sense of beauty when we're angry.

In my humble opinion, that's downright bullshit. He is fucking terrifying when he's angry. As for me, I've been told that it's a mixture of adorable and terrifying by reliable sources, but I won't draw conclusions. I'll just tell you that an easier way to check is to look at our eyes. I inherited his, though I hope mine aren't that cold. 

I didn't want to deal with father or his temper, (which was definitely worse than mine, shut up love, I'm telling this story!) so I kept my answer short.  
"~Out.~"

Maybe that was a little too short, because the next thing I knew, I was being accused of disloyalty and banished.

Just great.

I didn't even get to keep my bow, it was snapped right in two. How am I supposed to keep myself alive if I can't hunt?  
My composure was all but forgotten at that point and I stormed out of the room, crying angry tears. Father used to be nicer and genuinely caring, but since mother died, he's changed. He never got over her. Hard to, really, she was the nicest woman I have ever known.  
"~How did that go?~" asked Legolas on the other side of the door. Like he didn't hear every single word. Father and I didn't exactly whisper.  
"~Oh you know, quite well. I was asked to go hunting outside of the borders and never set foot within them ever again,~" I told him in a tone that I hoped sounded un-bothered. I could see in his glare of disapproval that it didn't. "~Well, at least he didn't cut your head off on the spot, or you his. So you've got that going for you.~"  
"~He might as well have. They snapped my bow like a twig.~"  
I hugged him and bid him goodbye. He told me to hold my horses. I told him I didn't have any and he rolled his eyes at me before handing me a sack.

"~There is a change of clothes and food in there and well as a couple of daggers and a quiver of arrows,~" he explained in a hushed tone.  
I nearly got emotional as I said: "~You knew this was going to happen, you prick.~"  
"'~Thank you Legolas, I will miss you Legolas.' would have done just fine.~" He put up a high voice that didn't sound like mine at all.  
"~Go kiss an Orc.~" We hugged again.

As sneakily as I could, I slipped into the king's chambers and stole his hunting bow and cloak. If you break my stuff, I'll use yours. Me not being in the same place as my father was was his problem. I reckon getting a new bow was easier for him than it would be for me.  
I snuck out of the palace and the city. When I was out, I headed west through the forest. The cloak was slightly too big and it got caught on broken branches every so often.  
I flew across the trees and only ever stopped to rip my cloak free and for a couple hours' sleep every now and then, or to gather a meal. To be completely honest, I stopped quite often. Saying that I flew through the trees just sounded slightly cooler than I gradually made my way out of the forest. 

I knew the patrol routes like the back of my hand. I also knew that I'd best avoid using them. I knew the rest of the forest well enough, and every time I was unsure of my direction I could always climb a tree and look for the sun. In a couple of weeks' time I reached the edge of the woods. Where a vast plain stretched out before my eyes.  
Maybe I could reach Lothlorien before the news of my banishment did. I wouldn't risk it by heading into the city, but I could make a quick stop along the outer edges and go on to the Gap of Rohan. From there I could reach Bree and become a hunter there. By then it would too late to drop by Rivendell sadly, but going over the mountains was too risky. I also had no desire to spend my time in the kingdoms of men. I didn't want to risk running into my father there.  
The Dwarves of any mountains wouldn't be an option either. They wouldn't want me anywhere near them once news of Erebor spread.  
Bree wasn't my first option, it was my only option. No one who knew who I was would think to search for me there and I wouldn't have trouble keeping my past a secret. 

~-Five decades ago-~

Let's just say that life in Bree took some getting used to after spending most of my adult life at the head of an army. It was peaceful, but quickly got boring. I found a way to sustain myself and eventually get a place to live by working for the owner of the Prancing Pony. I would hunt and occasionally wait tables and depending on my usefulness, I would get paid to buy myself dinner. 

It was there that I learned that many questions came with the name and appearance of the Elven princess general of Mirkwood. Even in a small town like Bree. Especially if said princess was travelling alone and looked like she'd had a rather quarrelsome encounter with a bear. I never told them my story and said that they must've confused me with another Kahlahari Thranduileill. It didn't work often but I usually just walked away. 

I didn't make many friends.

I told no one the full story. No one that is, until a very peculiar stranger asked.  
It was raining outside so instead of catching a cold by waiting in the mud, I was waiting tables at the inn. I was quite spent on everything about this town and was desperate to leave. There wasn't anywhere else I could go though, and that kept me in my place for fifteen years after the people stopped asking about my story. I regretted not going to Gondor instead of Bree. It certainly was more quiet than the big cities would ever be, but life was also very routine and boring. The only advantage I could see that I would never run into anyone from my old life here. In the two decades I spent here, I had never even heard about another Elf being in town. Let alone a higher up from Mirkwood.

I came to a table that was seating a tall man with a long grey beard and a pointy hat and put down his food and ale. "Here you go, sir. Enjoy your meal." There wasn't really anything in particular about the Prancing Pony's food that was enjoyable, but it was better than going to bed with an empty stomach. The alcohol was not bad, or so I've been told, but the wine they served made me miss the forest. The bottles of Mirkwood wine they did occasionally have cost more than I could get if I sold my cottage along with everything inside. It was probably for the best that I didn't have the resources to get drunk every night. Knowing me, my poor impulse control and the bad spot I was in at the time, it would have probably made for quite a pathetic sight. A hopelessly drunk Elf. Best not think of that. 

The man looked up at my face, though I did not yet know who he was, he seemed to be aware, at least to some degree, of who I was. Or rather who I used to be.  
"Ah, thank you, my lady."  
"You're very welcome." I was about to walk away to get to another table, but he stopped me.  
"Would you care to sit down and have a chat with an old man?"  
I feel like he could have worded this better, but it wasn't a busy evening and we had two other waitresses walking around, so I sat down anyway.  
"My name is Gandalf the Grey, and I am in the market for an apprentice. Someone who can fend for themselves, is a bit clever and above all interested in learning how to use magic. Do you know someone who might fit that description?" he explained.  
I was interested in that job, who wouldn't be? I also jumped at the opportunity to skip town. But since he asked if I knew someone like that, and not for me specifically, I was a bit disappointed. "I'm sorry, I don't really know anyone here. If it's any help to you though, I don't think there are many people who can even read here. You might want to try Rivendell to the east."  
"You know, folk around here talk of a lost Elven princess wandering between Buckland and WeatherTop." He didn't accuse me of being said princess, I did that myself.  
"Not all those who wander are lost you know."  
"An Elf waiting tables in Bree? I think you are lost," he said into his mug of ale. 

Lost, or running from the past. 

"I know exactly where I am," I scoffed. I had a feeling that I was wasting my time, I still had to eat, and hadn't exactly delivered a good night's work yet.  
"But do you want to be here?"  
He had me there. I had no feeling of belonging and at the slightest oppertunity, I would be gone like the wind. "I like it well enough here," I lied.  
"Do you want to find out where you really belong, princess?"  
"If you are asking me to be your apprentice, you need only say so. I've been wanting to leave this place since I got here," I burst.

So, I travelled with him to Isengard. Where I was officially named Gandalf's apprentice. I trained hard and studied every dusty scroll I could get my hands on. In my spare time I even got Gandalf fresh meat.  
Two decades of training and practise later, I was named Kahlahari the Green and got my official place on the Court of Wizards, still as Gandalf's apprentice.  
I mostly did the standard subtle stuff, like making a room go dark or stirring tea without touching the spoon. I also did healing and nature charms, like making plants grow faster, or when I felt like it, have my footprints be made out delicate flowers that bloomed when I lifted my feet among others. After some practise, I could make the footprint thing work inside as well.  
When the oppertunity arose, I annoyed Saruman to bits with that. That was a big part of why I developed it further than was necessary. 

For combat I still relied on my skill with bows and swords, which weren't too shabby either, I had been a general of the Mirkwood army after all and was still a fighter at heart. I had only been able to practise healing on minor injuries on myself, but I don't intentionally hurt myself. If you get stabbed through the stomach, though I would try my best, I'd probably have to diagnose you with "You died ten minutes ago."  
I went with Gandalf whenever he travelled to non-Elvish cities west of the Misty Mountains. The only time I did not was Gandalf went to the Blue Mountains of Ered Luin and told me to stay in the Shire. The Dwarves there would not take kindly to an Elf he'd said. Doesn't matter, I loved the Shire from the moment the children ran up to Gandalf's cart and begged him for his fire-works.


	2. But wait! There's more!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still some vital stuff that serves the plot later. Also, you might have realised, but there are quite some colourful words used in this fic. If you can't enjoy that please don't make it my problem because I've got this whole thing written already.

~-Five weeks ago-~

It was a warm and peaceful evening in late spring. I stood outside the Tower of Isengard practising my footwork and swordsmanship. I usually travelled with Gandalf everywhere he went but this time he dropped me off at Isengard and told me to wait for his return. Not that it would have mattered much fighting practise wise. The most treathening thing I'd had to fight off on our travels was a hungry bear that fled after realising a wizard and his apprentice are not an easy meal.  
I had been in Isengard for a couple of days already and there was very little I could do to keep the boredom at bay. I could only study so much before I could recite the entire content of the book without looking at it and Saruman wasn't that eager a comversation partner. 

It really sucked that I couldn't spar with actual opponents. Throughout the years. Or more accurately, whenever Gandalf went to the Dwarves, I'd asked every available Wizard, I'd even tried Saruman.  
That wasn't a succes, as you can imagine. Most of the Wizards had more important stuff to do if they found themselves to be in the area. I did too, usually, but I seemed to find myself in the area more often than anyone else. Either Gandalf was growing tired of me and wanted me to be a Wizard in my own right, or he just wanted to get on Saruman's nerves without lifting a finger. My money is on the second option because I know that Gandalf knows that wizardry doesn't work that way. There five Wizards. There always have been five Wizards. There will always be five Wizards. It doesn't matter how good I will become at doing magic or how many spells I will invent, nothing will change that.  
Unless one of them dies but I'm not entirely sure that's even possible.

Isengard didn't come equipped with proper practise dummies, because who would use them, Saruman?  
Bucky Buckethead made a fairly poor duelling partner but he would have to do. (I'm not great at names, you shut it.) 

I hacked away and jumped at it, until the sun was starting it's descend.  
My bad luck had been dormant for almost fifty years. So of course, it decided to awaken.  
Saruman had called a court meeting but didn't tell Gandalf because he's a prick. In his opinion, there are only five true Wizards. That much is true, I am no Valar sent deity, just one's apprentice. Why Saruman gave me an official seat and vote in the court is beyond me but he seems to regret it now. He is actively looking for reasons revoke the title he gave me and kick me out.  
He also didn't like my destroying of his property. It's not like he used the used the old spades, sack and bucket anyway. All he did was mope around in his dark tower and set off to Rivendell every so often.  
Speak of the Balrog and he shall appear.  
"I thought you would be travelling with Gandalf?" Saruman's voice suddenly behind me scared me half to death, I spun around with my sword pointing at him, but regained my composure and put it away when I saw who it was.

"No, Gandalf went to Bree to meet with a Dwarf this morning. You know they feel about my kind. Anyway, aren't you supposed to be at the council of the White something?"  
"I just returned," Saruman answered my question in a tone that suggested I was in trouble. When I saw he looked both annoyed and pleased at the same time, I knew the day had come.  
He was going to have a vote to let me go and strip me of the title I had worked so hard for. I made a mental tally and saw the odds against me. Radagast and Gandalf liked me enough to vote for my stay, and the Blue Wizards were indifferent toward me, because they barely knew me. If given one or two good reasons they would vote for whichever side they agreed with most. Which, in all fairness, is how voting works.  
With Gandalf in Bree, Saruman could throw me out in this court meeting. He had already gathered enough reason to do so. My vocal issue with his authority being one of them.  
He didn't seem to have a problem with the decimation of the old grain sack at all.  
"The Wizards are seated already, so come in and have yours," Saruman informed me in a sly tone.  
I rolled my eyes and went inside to the court room. I took my seat next to Gandalf's empty chair.  
I zoned out when Saruman opened the meeting but he took my attention back when he spoke my full name; "Kahlahari Thranduiliell, I present a movement to expel you from the Court of Wizards on grounds of you being banished from the Mirkwood Realm when you were found guilty of disloyalty and treason," he addressed the court in a regal voice.

Ah. He'd spoken with my father in Rivendell. That was quite inconvenient to say the least. I wasn't aware that father had appeared when summoned in at least two thousand years. He'd either send an envoy to represent him or just ignore the summons entirely, trusting that a letter would be sent if there was anything that he specifically needed to know about.

My famously succesful diplomatic skills engaged, I made my counter move: "I'm surprised it took you fifty years to find out." I'm a blonde Elf that didn't mention that I was from Lothlòrien. You now have three guesses.

Hold up, that came out wrong.

"So you do not deny your crimes against the kingdom your own father rules."

Welp. It has been fun.

"No, I do not deny their existence but I do question-"

Saruman cut me off. Rude. Do I not have the right to defend myself?

"All in favour of baninshment?"  
"Wait, what does Kahlahari herself have to say?" one of the blue Wizards asked. I felt bad that he knew my name when I wasn't sure if he was Alatar or Pallando. In my defense, I've seen the both of them a grand total of three times in my five decades as an apprentice. 

The worse thing was that I didn't have a good counter argument. Refusing to follow Thranduil's orders was disloyalty and siding with the Dwarves over him was probably treason. Otherwise not honouring the terms of the allegiance would be.

"Thranduil and I... have difficulties getting along. I do not feel the need to discuss it in depth. I just want to say that he betrayed the trust of the Dwarves of Erebor before I disobeyed his orders."  
The voting began. Saruman and both the Blue wizards raised their hands. He had found my defence weak then. Radagast stubbornly did not raise his hand, I really appreciated that. "Then hereby, you are no longer Kahlahari the Green. You may now gather your possessions and leave Isengard."

Yeah yeah, fuck you too. Thanks for the magic, kiss an Orc, I hope this was the last time we met, so long.


	3. By the gods, there's thirteen of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final tiny lil' bit prologue and then the story also starts here. Also I can't keep a consistent word count to save my life so sorry about that.

~-Two weeks ago-~

Gandalf was wrong.

I didn't belong in Isengard. I don't know where I did belong, but it wasn't there. I decided to give Bree another chance. It had been five decades since I last set foot in there.  
People knowing of my heritage only seemed to cause me trouble, so I disguised myself as a young human woman and wrote my accent off as Eastern, which was not wrong, but not entirely right either. I took the name Dawn. Which wasn't entirely a lie either, as my real name meant Fading Stars. Which sounds a lot more poetic than it is. I was born at the crack of dawn and my parents hadn't expected me to be female for some reason so they had to come up with something.

It was my plan to go back to hunting at Bree. Don't ask me why. The only person I knew who visited there every so often was Gandalf, and was no hostile. Besides, while short visits to Gondor or Rohan were completely fine, a longer stay increased the odds of seeing a Mirkwood Elf.  
Either way, I did not much like my own decision, but much like last time, I did not feel particularly rich in options. In order to procrastinate, I made a detour to the Shire first. It had been a long time since I'd been there and I certainly liked it more than Bree.

I didn't have money so I killed a hare to barter for a bed for the night. I remembered that every time Gandalf and I used to visit one young fellow always expected us.  
Bilbo Baggins always waited for us at the borders of the Shire. Always asked to tell him about our adventures. He stood out in my mind because I knew where he lived when he was young. He had invited us over to sleep at his house when he was seven years old. His father was less than happy about that so we ended up only having tea and leaving again. To be honest, I hadn't seen him at all since then. I do hope he still lives there, or that the person who does can point me in the right direction.

When I finally arrived in Bag End, the sun was sinking fast. I knocked on the round green door. It really needed a paint job, very badly. The garden was very nicely kept though.  
"The Tooks live a few hills to the North!" shouted a voice I hoped was Bilbo's. He did sound quite agitated.  
"I am not looking for the Tooks. I am looking for one Bilbo Baggins and I believe that he lives here in Bag end!" I called back.

He opened the door. "Who are you?"  
"A childhood friend." The smile I had worn faded away at Bilbo's lack of recognition.  
"I, I don't think that's possible."  
"Why would it not be?"  
"You look twenty-something- young, at least, and I am, I'm fifty-two."  
"Ah yes, but looks can be deceiving."  
"Who are you?" he asked more pressingly.  
"Oh, right, sorry. You might know me as Kahlahari the Green, but I-"  
"Kahlahari the Green!" He seemed to remember now, and his mood changed drastically. "Come in!"

I hit my head on the doorpost on my way through. Classic me.  
"You haven't changed at all. Last time I saw you, I was still a child and I invited you and Gandalf to stay over and my dad, he, he didn't agree. Every time after that the other children would call "Bilbo! Bilbo! The, the Wizards are back! Gandalf the Grey and, and Kahlahari the Green!" And I, I would never be allowed to come," Bilbo started rambling.

"More like Kahlahari the Banished now. People don't seem to like having me around. They call me Dawn, or, they will, in time."  
He seemed to understand that I wouldn't appreciate questions and we talked about gardening and flowers and what-not. He traded me a bed for the night in exchange for the hare, a story of one of my misadventures as a wizard and my opinion on his home made jams. They were the best I'd ever eaten. Hobbits had quite the taste for finery.  
We got on like it was only yesterday since we last saw eachother and I actually got to stay the next night as well.

I left early the next morning on my way to Bree. I hunted on my way there and traded my game for clothes. I pulled my hood up and went to the Prancing Pony. There I struck a deal with the innkeeper that I hunt to keep his storages full, and he provides me with a meal and a place to sleep. My old cottage had long since gotten a new owner.

~-Present-~

I got back from my second unsuccessful hunt in a row. And to top it off I tripped and fell in the mud. I was arguing with the innkeeper when a hand tapped my shoulder. I turned to see Gandalf smiling at me and beckoning me to follow him. After a sideways glance at the man behind the bar, I followed Gandalf to a secluded corner of the pub.  
The innkeeper told me I could forget our agreement. That had to be some sort of record. I lasted almost two weeks!

Gandalf sat me down and got straight to the point. "~I have assembled a group of thirteen Dwarves and hopefully a Hobbit to reclaim the lost Dwarven kingdom of Erebor. They are meeting in the Shire tomorrow evening and I need you to be a part of it.~"  
This blew me away. He recognised me through my clever disguise. I pulled my best 'me no speak Elvish' look. "Uhm... I don't think we introduced ourselves yet. My name is Dawn, who're you?"  
Gandalf looked annoyed and didn't answer my question. So I sighed and asked another one, "~Why me? What would Dwarves want to do with me? Especially the ones of Erebor. They must hate Elves after what we did to them."~  
From the fact that our conversation was in Sindarin, I concluded that this was important information that no one else was supposed to know about.  
"~Indeed they do, that is why you must not, under any circumstance tell them what you are, and certainly not who you are. In fact, try and keep your face hidden, lest they recognise your father in you. I intended for you to come with us in the first place. It took me a bit of time to find you again after Saruman said you'd left.~"  
"~I didn't leave willingly, let me tell you!~" I paused for bit, thinking over what Gandalf said. "~I'm not going to babysit thirteen Dwarves. They are too stubborn. What if they do find out? They'll have plenty of time for that. The Lonely mountain is on the other side of Mirkwood too, I can't go back there!~"  
"~You are arguably even more stubborn than all the Dwarves of the Iron Hills. There is a giant treasure in Erebor and party members are entitled to one fifteenth share of it.~"  
"~Point taken. Are you sure that they'll even let me come? What name did you give them? Kahlahari is about as Elvish as it gets.~" The promise of great treasure fell on deaf ears, but I did want to go. Danger or not, it was better than waiting in the mud and sleeping above a rowdy bar day after day.  
"~I didn't give them a name. I thought by now you might have realised what trouble it gives you to carry the name of someone you're not.~"  
"~Thanks.~" That was both sarcastic and not. I'm quite sure he got that.  
"~You'll have to prove yourself again and again. It will take a long time before they'll learn to trust you. Perhaps even longer to respect you. But once you've gained their favour, there is not a more loyal group of folk in all of Middle Earth. Fortunately, you seem to have fled so far away from the past that you've changed your name. Dawn was it? That will save you part of the trouble.~"  
I nodded. "~Sounds promising. Where in the Shire can I find this company?~"  
"~I've left a mark at the door, you can't miss it.~"

Gandalf gave me enough gold to sleep at the inn for the night. The keeper wasn't overly excited about that. I washed off the mud best as I could. This man was a lot less forgiving than the previous owner. Or the owner before that or whatever.  
He took the money, which would be enough to have bought me food as well, and tossed a key in my general direction. I would have caused a scene, but I was tired and not that hungry anyway.

The next morning, before the sun had risen, I grabbed my horse and rode to the Shire. I would first visit Bilbo's as I'd done a few times before these last few weeks. We'd become quite good friends.  
At around noon I saw the fields of the Shire in the distance. I spurred my flaming red horse to walk faster.  
I jumped off at Bilbo's gate and bound the horse to a pole in the garden. It had rained considerably yesterday, so there plenty of water in the basin, and plenty of grass on the ground.  
I walked up to the door. It had been painted since my last visit. It was nice and shiny. Wait, what? Is that Fehu? a rune?

Bilbo Baggins going on an adventure across Middle Earth to save a lost Dwarven kingdom? Well, at least I didn't have to search half the Shire anymore.

I knocked on Bilbo's door and gave him my usual greeting as he opened it. "Dawn the Huntress, at your service." I gave a mock bow and smiled as usual. He rolled his eyes and let me in.

We had tea and made small talk. He didn't bring up the quest or the fact that he was expecting thirteen Dwarves later in the evening. Was he aware of what was waiting for him?  
Bilbo went to the market in the afternoon and I used his bathroom to wash myself and my clothing again. I went to sit in front of the fire where I braided my hair in a way that it covered my ears and a few loose strands to frame and cover most of my face. Then I must've fallen asleep because I awoke in the early evening to a rude knocking.  
Bilbo looked very annoyed and ignored the knocking at first. As anyone would. Then the knocking became more urgent. Bilbo went to get the door and I went to grab my cloak.

Best not risk the Dwarves knowing I'm Elvish, if they hadn't guessed already. I might not be allowed to come at all, even if I did prove myself.

"Dwalin, at your service," a Dwarf with wild hair and an arguably even wilder beard greeted with a bow.

Hey! That is my annoying joke! Find your own!

Bilbo was even more confused and looked over his shoulder at me for confirmation. I shrugged.

Had Gandalf not told him?

Dwalin looked over Bilbo's shoulder at me as well.  
"Is that your wife?" he asked.

Had Gandalf not told him? What had he not told me?

"No, no, she's not. She's a good friend of mine," Bilbo explained quickly. Dwalin let himself in and helped himself to Bilbo's dinner. 

Something that Bilbo hadn't told me was that dinner was ready. Arse.

Bilbo tried to politely tell Dwalin to leave, but he didn't catch on.  
There was another knock. Bilbo opened the door again and there stood another dwarf. This one was older. He had a long white beard.  
"Balin, at your service," he greeted the same way as Dwalin and me. When his eyes fell on me he looked confused for a second. A look of recognition flashed across his face as he looked into my eyes, which was highly concerning and the complete opposite of what I wanted. I vaguely recognised him too, though I couldn't recall where or when I'd met him. Probably when I'd slip into Erebor when father told me to stay in Dale.

I pulled my hood down to cover my eyes. People always said I had my father's eyes. I'd wager mine are friendlier though. It was about the only physical trait my father and I shared, but even so, I couldn't risk them putting two and two together.

Another knock came, and this time I opened the door. There were two Dwarves now. Both were a lot younger than Balin and Dwalin.  
"Fili-" He looked at his accomplice.  
"And Kili."  
"At your service," they completed in unison. Both of them winked at me.

I rolled my eyes. "All yours, Bilbo," I said rather more annoyedly than I wanted it to sound.

"Ah, you must be mr. Boggins." I could practically smell Bilbo's annoyance, which became even more apparent as more Dwarves came in, raided his pantry, and moved his stuff around unceremoniously. I did my best trying to catch everyone's names without engaging in a conversation myself. So far, I think I got them all.  
I managed to sneak a plateful of food away and went to sit on a chair tucked away in a corner. I pulled my hood lower over my face and dug in. I quickly finished my plate and the dwarves finished everything soon after.

I saw them distributing ale and went to get one. Not that I could get drunk of Hobbit-ale, but I was way too sober to deal with any of this.  
"Could you pass me one?" I asked Fili who was on the table passing giant mugs around.  
He looked at me weird. "Are you sure, lass?"  
"Never been more sure about anything in my life." I would challenge him to a contest, but me drinking him under the table without even getting tipsy would probably raise questions. Questions that I didn't want to answer. I did still want to impress them though.

Fili handed me a mug and all the table watched in awe as turned it upside down without spilling a drop. They cheered and whistled when I clanked the empty mug back on the table. They invited me to sit at the table with them. I accepted the invitation and Bifur and Kili moved far enough apart that I could squeeze in between. My mug got refilled but this one I drank more slowly.  
"What's the matter, lass? Can't gulp this one in one go too?" asked Nori.  
"It's just a party trick..." Can't risk anything. Damn. 

The Dwarves were now sliding their knives against their forks and banging them on the table, making a musical rhythm.

"C-can you not do that? You'll blunt them," Bilbo ever so politely asked.  
The Dwarves' response was less than polite. "Ooh, you hear that lads? He says we'll blunt the knives!" said the one I think was named Bofur in a sing-song voice. Then they all started singing.

"Blunt the knives, bend the forks  
Smash the bottles and burn the corks.  
Chip the glasses and crack the plates,  
That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!

Cut the cloth, thread on the fat,  
Leave the bones on the bedroom mat.  
Pour the milk on the pantry floor, splash the wine on every door.

Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl.  
Pound them with a thumping pole.  
When you're finished and they are whole, send them down the hall to roll!

That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!"

The Dwarves threw plates around for eachother to catch while they were singing. I tossed my own plate and cutlery into the fray and hummed the tune along. Bilbo frantically ran around trying get to get his stuff to survive its flight. To Bilbo's surprise, everything was neatly stacked, clean and miraculously in one piece by the end.

There was another knock at the door. I went to open it because Bilbo was busy telling the men off.  
When I opened the door there was Gandalf.

"I'm having a good time, but I have to restrain myself in order not to knock you to the ground."

"And a fine evening to you as well, Dawn."

"Yeah yeah, get your ass in."

Gandalf sat at the table with the dwarves. I listened to their conversations but it was mostly nonsensical. 

I overhead the two younger dwarves whose names were Fili and Kili talk about who could swoon me first, for instance.  
This could be fun.

Fili came up to me. "What do they call you?" he asked me in voice so deep that I highly doubted it was his natural one, especially since he didn't use it when he doubted my order of ale. "They call me Dawn," I purred in my most seductive tone. I never really flirted with anyone anymore, so my skills were rusty to say the least.

"Aren't you going to ask me for my name?"  
Very very rusty. I just pulled from the bottom of the lake were they had been waiting for at least seven decades.

"That would be unnecessary since I already know it," I shrugged. "You're Kili." I knew he wasn't, but it was fun to mess with him.  
He went back to table and grumbled something to his brother that sounded like "your turn."  
The actual Kili strode over with his chest puffed out but before he could say anything I cut him off. "If your wish is to swoon me, you will have plenty more time. There's no need to overwhelm me." I didn't do the knock-off sexy voice this time and used my regular voice.  
He seemed taken aback. "You're coming with us?"  
"If I weren't, I would've left before before the sun set."  
When said he nothing I winked at him. "Don't worry, I know how to handle a sword or two."


	4. I sign up for death and they almost don't let me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna shut up from here on out, enjoy the show.

"But can you handle thirteen?" he asked.   
"Really? None of you are archers?" I laughed. 

Whether he had an answer to that or not, I will never know, because a loud knock silenced everyone. I got up and went to the door when I saw Bilbo's pleading look.

When I opened the door, I saw a regal and admittedly, quite handsome looking Dwarf. He was also quite tall. Well, for a member of a race known for their short stature. I was only taller by a head and a bit. And I wasn't that short! I stood at a little under five feet and a half. He didn't greet me at all and just stomped past me. 

Very charming. Just because your hair looks nice in the breeze when look off to the side doesn't mean you get to ignore the person that opens the door for you. You do realise that you made me get up, right?

"Gandalf, I thought you said this place would be easy to find. I lost my way, twice. I wouldn't have found it at all had it not been for that mark on the door."  
I tried to surpress a laugh, but a snort came out anyway. "How exactly does one lose one's way in the Shire? Twice no less."

He looked angrily over his shoulder and I shut up. If looks could kill we'd both be dead, only he wouldn't know, because my eyes backstabbed him.

"Mark? There is no mark on that door. It was painted a week ago." Bilbo walked forward to find that indeed, there was a mark there.

"Have you told him anything at all, Gandalf?" I asked angrily.

"There is a mark; I put it there myself." My question got ignored. I walked away and sat at the table where most other dwarves were.

"I might as well say anything," I started. "My name is Dawn and I've got a birthmark in the shape of a dick on my left tit." This wasn't true of course, but I thoroughly enjoyed the utterly stunned expressions of those who were listening.   
"Prove it," demanded Fili with a grin. If looks could kill, he'd be dead as well. And by his sudden change of expression, I'd wager that he was well aware of that.

Thorin circled Bilbo like a buzzard would a fresh corpse, inspecting and inquiring him. He came to the conclusion that Bilbo looked more like a grocer than a burglar.  
The other Dwarves laughed at his joke and I rolled my eyes. Thorin went to sit at the table at the only free chair left, across from me. The men discussed some meeting at Ered Luin between the seven Dwarven kingdoms. I tried to follow but they used terms unfamiliar to me and to be honest, I have never been very interested in politics.

Good thing Legolas is the eldest. Even though that doesn't really matter anymore.

"You're going on a quest?" Bilbo asked. I shot Gandalf another angry look. Let's just say there'd be a lot of bodies if only looks could kill. But, I guess not, as I would have been the first to go.

Gandalf drew a deep breath. "Bilbo, my dear fellow, let us have a little more light." Bilbo left the room and came back with a candle. Gandalf started explaining the quest.

About time.

"Far to the East, over ranges and rivers, beyond woodlands and wastelands, lies a solitary peak."

"Very poetic," I commented.

"Thank you, Born-At-Dawn," he answered my sass. 

Fair point, but I wasn't the one who named me.

"That solitary peak? Is that the Lonely Mountain?" Bilbo questioned. Instead of Gandalf, the red-haired Dwarf, Gloin, I think, answered. "Aye! Oin has read the portents and the portents say it is time." All other Dwarves groaned, they'd probably heard this story a thousand times. Bilbo and I however sat there like a set of children listening to a fairy tale.  
Oin continued the story: "Ravens have been flying back to the mountain as it was foretold: When the birds of yore return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end."

"What beast?" Bilbo was the one asking questions, I sat there with my mouth shut, listening intently for once. Don't get used to it. I had my suspicions about who the beast was.

Fili was the one to carry on this time. It truly seemed like this story had been hammered into their heads. "Well, that would be a reference to Smaug the Terrible, chiefest and greatest calamity of our age. Airborne fire-breather, teeth like razors, claws like meathooks. Extremely fond of precious metals."  
"Yes I know what a Dragon is."  
"Sounds like someone I know," I mumbled. Kili, who sat next to me, chuckled softly. I don't know who he thought I was referring to, but I was in fact, referring to Thranduil. Or Saruman. They were interchangeable really.

"The task to win back the mountain would be difficult enough with an army behind us. But we number just thirteen, and not thirteen of the best." This statement by Balin did not seem very popular, as shouts of protest arose.

Gloin's voice rose above them all. "We may be few in numbers, but we're fighters. All of us, to the last Dwarf!"  
Kili went on: "And you forget, we have a Wizard in our company. Gandalf must have killed hundreds of Dragons in his time."  
Gandalf started muttering that he had done no such thing, but the Dwarves didn't seem to hear him as they continued with questions of how and how many.  
They seemed to realise he hadn't killed any as he looked around embarrassed. The Dwarves groaned again.

Thorin rose to his feet, I got the feeling that he had quite the flair for dramatics. Maybe more than a feeling. "If we have read these signs, do you not think others will have read them too? Rumours have begun to spread. The Dragon Smaug has not been seen for sixty years. Eyes look East to the mountain, assessing, wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people lies unprotected. Do we sit back as others claim what is rightfully ours? Or do we seize this chance to take back Erebor?"

His speech earned cheers and jumps of joy. Balin rose to his feet as well and raised his voice to get it to carry over the rabble. "You forget, the front gate is sealed! There is no way into the mountain."

"That my dear Balin is not entirely true," Gandalf said as he pulled out a map and large key. Thorin looked at the key in wonder.   
"How came you by this?"  
"It was given to me by your father, by Thrain, for safe keeping. It is yours now." Gandalf handed him the key. Thorin turned it over and over in his hands to look at it from all angles. His kin looked on in awe.  
"If there is a key, there must be a door," hypothesized Kili. 

While Kili and Gandalf discussed the whereabouts of that door, Balin tapped me on the shoulder. "We weren't properly introduced. I am Balin," he smiled. "And you must be our hunter, Dawn. Gandalf told me about you."  
That slightly worried me. I don't know when Gandalf had told him about me, but it couldn't have been before he learned I was so desperate to run from my past that I hid my heritage. Balin had called me Dawn instead of Kahlahari. Gandalf really had not told anyone my name. It might have seemed suspicious to him. I wonder how Gandalf had dealt with that well enough for my aid to be considered.

"What exactly did he say about me?" I asked suspiciously.  
"Only that you're a healer and a good fighter who lets her actions speak for her. Though, now that I've met you, you don't strike me as a quiet type," Balin explained before pulling an envelope from his coat. He put it on the table in front of me but before I could take it he put his hand on it. "How good of a fighter are you, really?" he asked.  
"As you said, I'd much rather show you. Though wounding anyone to test whether my healing skills are up to scratch is probably not the greatest plan. You'd have to take my word that I can magically heal people," I answered. "For fighting I rely on speed more than strength. I have a bow, a sword and a couple of throwing knives, it's been a while since I really had to use them to defend myself but I should be able to manage if things get messy."

He lifted his hand and slid the contract towards me. I scanned through it as turned he his attention to another argument about Bilbo's competence as a burglar.  
The contract spoke of all manners of potential gruesome death and other mildly inconvenient stuff. So of course, I signed right at the bottom.   
I turned my attention to the argument. Thorin sighed and seemed to weigh his options. "Very well, we'll do it your way." His annoyance was very audible. I felt bad for Bilbo. "Give him our contract." Balin handed him his. 

"Speaking of contracts," Thorin continued. "Gandalf, you said that you had a fifteenth member for us. Where is he?"   
Gandalf gave him a sort of pained look that pretty much told I could be as rude as I liked.   
"If you'd turn a bit, you'd be looking right at him." I decided not to be very rude. Yet.   
"Her?"   
"The only difference is two letters."   
"Out of three." He sounded quite annoyed already. Let's see how far I can push that.   
"I signed the contact, you're stuck with me." 

"You did what?" Thorin's voice had a hint of anger as well now.  
"I signed it. One fifteenth share of the treasure, getting to see what's on the other side the Misty Mountains, inevitable death by Dragon's fire. Sounds fun."  
"Do you understand the importance of this quest, girl?"  
"Of course I do. If the quest is as Gandalf explained it to me, you're going to need a level-headed, patient person like me." The look that Gandalf gave me made sure I knew that I was the complete opposite of what I'd just described.

"You seem too delicate to even lift a sword."  
I turned on my seat so I was looking at him, but not fully facing him, with my foot on the chair next to me and my arm around the backrest. "Do you want to test that?" I challenged him.

Delicate. Pshh. I'll show him delicate.

"Twenty silver pieces says I'll have you on the ground in two minutes flat, and I won't have to use my weapons," I proposed a bet. I heard the rest of the Dwarves make their own individual bets, most of which were not in my favour.

Gandalf tried to break up the battle before it had started. "Dawn is a very skilled warrior who has had years of training with some of the best fighters I've known. It might not be wise to take her up on that challenge."

Thorin however, ignored Gandalf's advice and did take me up on my bet, placing ten gold pieces in his own favour. Gandalf had described my later youth fairly well without raising any suspicions. Back in the forest when I was barely old enough to lift a shield, I had been training from dawn 'till dusk. After some time I viewed my schedule as more of a guideline though and I just did whatever I wanted.

"Do move outside! Please," Bilbo commanded us. I nodded and got up. I winked at Thorin in passing and headed out the door and onto the roof. 

"May the best man win," I smirked once we stood opposite eachother.  
Thorin apparantly thought it impolite to strike at me first. Or he was willing to take a hit to see how strong I was. I circled him, he thought it had to do with me trying to get at his back and turned with me.  
My plan was to jump behind him in a burst of speed, but I'd have to know his handedness first, otherwise he'd block me too easily. From the way his sword hung at his left side, I concluded that he was right-handed, which means he shields with left. He probably expected me to notice that, and thus shifted his guard to his vulnerable right, which left his left unguarded. 

I dashed to his left side and he turned quickly to match my speed. If I was in luck, it had slightly brought him off balance, which was my goal.  
I jumped over him, legs over my head so I could reach and draw Thorin's sword. On my landing, I tried to kick Thorin's legs out from under him.  
This sadly wasn't a succes and he barely even lost his balance. So I used both arms to point the sword at him and force him a little lower to the ground. 

He looked a little smug, as if he'd won the bet, which, if I was counting correctly, was not the case. In his confidence, he let his guard down, which allowed me to do a quick turn and make his temple collide my elbow hard enough to knock him to the ground briefly.

It worked. When I turned back to the company, every Dwarf but Kili, who had apparantly bet in my favour, looked quite grumpy. "What was my time?" I asked.  
"Just under one minute and thirty-seven seconds," said Kili happily.

I turned around with a loud 'Ha!' That must have woken half the Shire up. At least all of West-Farthing. "Pay up, your royal highness!"  
Thorin groaned and got up. "That was cheating! You said that you wouldn't use weapons!"

"Me? Cheating? I would never!" I said with mock offence. "I said I'd not use my weapons, I said nothing about using yours."  
"I still stand by my point," Thorin said as he rubbed the place on his head where I'd struck him.  
"Which was?" I was less than pleased about having had no impact aside from the one that knocked him out.  
"You're still too delicate to lift a sword," Thorin smiled smugly.  
"How so?" I asked while lifting his sword a little higher.

"That sword, my lady, is one-handed."

I stuck the sword in the ground. This was quite embarrassing. "Well, I still got you on the ground in two minutes," I huffed.  
"You'll have to admit Thorin, she's clever, if nothing else," said Balin, grumpy at his lost bet.  
"Alright, fine," Thorin groaned, then counted out ten pieces and named me part of the Company. It was a good thing that I won too, because I didn't have twenty pieces of silver to my name. Not even one. 

I thanked Thorin, told him it had been fun and went inside to the guest bedroom where I quickly got rid of my already loosely hanging corset and my boots. I set the door ajar when I heard singing.

"Far over the Misty Mountains cold,  
To dungeons deep and caverns old,  
We must away, ere break of day,  
To seek our pale enchanted gold.

The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,  
While hammers fell like ringing bells,  
In places deep, where dark things sleep,  
In hollow halls beneath the fells.

For ancient king and Elvish lord  
There many a gleaming golden hoard  
They shaped and wrought, and light they caught,  
To hide in gems on hilt of sword.

On silver necklaces they strung  
The flowering stars, on crowns they hung  
The dragon-fire, on twisted wire  
They meshed the light of moon and sun.

Far over the Misty Mountains cold,  
To dungeons deep and caverns old,  
We must away, ere break of day,  
To claim our long-forgotten gold.

Goblets they carved there for themselves,  
And harps of gold, where no man delves  
There lay they long, and many a song  
Was sung unheard by men or Elves.

The pines were roaring on the heights,  
The wind was moaning in the night,  
The fire was red, it flaming spread,  
The trees like torches blazed with light."

I hummed the tune along, but the song was mighty long and I stopped paying attention about halfway through. When it finally did end, I got right in bed. It was too small for me, but if I curled up I would fit comfortably. I fell alseep quickly.


	5. Okay, this time I did cheat

I woke up to a loud knocking and Dwalin calling that we'd leave in a bit.  
I shot up and almost immediately fell down again when I tripped over my boot. 

I am a graceful Elf like that. 

I washed myself quickly and braided my hair down my back and made sure that my ears were completely covered again.  
I pulled on my pair of semi tight black pants and worn leather boots. A royal blue tunic that I covered loosely with a leather corset. It was the only sort of armour I could afford. I put on my belt and cloak and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked myself in the eyes and said: "What have you gotten yourself into now, Dawn." 

When I saw the still unsigned contract I wrote a small note saying "Pretty please?" and put them both where Bilbo would surely see them. Then I ran out to see the Dwarves just leaving Bag End.

"Hey! Wait up!" I shouted. They didn't wait. Assholes.  
My horse looked at me expectantly. I gave her a quick pat on the nose and swiftly climbed on her back and jumped the fence. After a few strides I caught up to the Dwarves and Gandalf.

"So Bilbo's not coming then?" I asked.   
"He wouldn't leave the warmth and comfort of his hearth fire behind," answered Thorin.  
"We do keep an extra pony with us just in case," continued Fili.  
My horse nudged Bombur, who gave her a carrot and a pat. 

"Do we have enough food? If not I could run ahead and shoot something," I offered.  
"We are all sorted, lady Dawn, thank you," answered Balin.

"Right. Oh, and please just call me Dawn. I've had to lie in the mud and sleep above a rowdy bar for two weeks. There is not much lady about me anymore."

"Not Born-At-Dawn?" laughed Bofur. It was a good humoured laugh.  
"You could, if you wish to end up Dead-At-Dawn." I tried to sound as serious as possible. 

"Very well, Dawn," Balin said.   
I smiled at him, and he smiled back.  
We soon entered a forest. It smelled really nice, once you got over the smells of thirteen Dwarves.  
In the distance I heard a pair of running footsteps and heavy breathing. An idea struck me.

"I bet he's going to come with his contract signed."

"Huh?"

"Bilbo. He's coming. I'll bet yesterday's winnings on it." I smirked at Thorin at the last sentence. He was riding in front of me though, so he didn't notice. He probably guessed though.  
"I'll take that bet, five gold pieces says he's not coming," stated Fili confidently. Soon, most Dwarves and even Gandalf had placed a bet. Most of them bet against Bilbo's joining of the company.

Thorin was determined to win against me after I royally kicked his royal ass yesterday (that might be an overstatement.) He will learn soon enough not to take up my bets.  
He placed twenty gold pieces against Bilbo. I looked at him in mild-shock. He just looked away and growled something I couldn't quite understand. Khuzdul maybe.

The footfalls had become louder now. And were soon accompanied by a voice.  
"Wait!"  
For some reason, we did halt now.  
Bilbo came running up to the side of our little caravan. "I signed it," he panted and handed Balin his contract. The company looked from eachother to Bilbo to me with expressions ranging from impressed to mildly annoyed. 

"Everything seems to be in order. Welcome, master Baggins, to the Company of Thorin Oakenshield."  
I smirked at the people who bet against him, especially Thorin, it was really fun to get on his nerves.   
Thorin gave me a disapproving glare. "Give him a pony," he sighed, and despite Bilbo's protests, he was hauled up the spare pony by the princes.  
Suddenly, a little coin pouch flew by my head. I wasn't quick enough to catch it.  
"Shit!"

Some of the dwarves looked at me amused, others not so much, then again, did Thorin ever look amused? Maybe I could make a point in trying to make him laugh. Yes, that was bound to annoy him, great idea, I'm a genius! (Also an overstatement.)  
I jumped off my horse and quickly retrieved the pouch before jumping back on as more pouches flew around. Bilbo was confused and asked Gandalf what this was about.  
"Well, you see, our dearest Dawn started a bet on whether you would show up or not," he explained.

Bilbo shot me a murder glare. So now the score was: Thorin was dead, I was dead twice, Gandalf dead and Fili dead. Getting nice and cozy in the afterlife.

"She bet in your favour, there's no reason to kill her. Yet."

"Excuse me?"

"And what did you bet?" Bilbo continued.  
"Well I-" he stopped mid sentence to catch a bag of coins himself, "I never doubted you for second."  
Thorin slowed his pony down and pushed a heavy pouch in my hands. "In case you don't catch it," he mumbled.   
"Thank you," was my surprisingly polite answer. I meant it to sound more sarcastic. But our fingers touched and that startled me into politeness. I hoped he knew what I meant.

He sped up again to be able to lead the Company. I sped up to ride next to his nephews. "Is it really a good idea to follow the man who got lost in the Shire twice?" I asked them.  
"Probably not," Fili said while Kili snickered.

We continued to chat with the three of us deep into the night, after we'd set up camp. To which I was no help at all; Thorin wouldn't let me. So I just kept Fili and Kili from their chores.  
Fili, Kili and I quickly became friends. We told jokes to each other. They badly flirted with me and I returned their intentionally bad flirts with new flavours. They taught me Khuzdul swear words. I would have taught them Elvish swear words, but that would give me away. Maybe some other time. I nearly fell of my horse twice because of the laughter, and once because Dwalin threw something at us because we were too loud. I threw it right back and missed. I hope it wasn't something important.

-~-

"Say Gandalf, can't you do something about this deluge?"  
"It is raining master Dwarf, and it will continue to rain until the rain is done. If you wish to change the weather of the world, you should find yourself another Wizard," Gandalf snapped.  
"Are there any?" Bilbo asked, ever so curious.  
Gandalf didn't hear though.

"Other Wizards, Gandalf!" I repeated for him.  
"There were six of us until my apprentice Dawn the Green got her title revoked. The greatest of our order is Saruman the White. Then there are two Blue Wizards," he paused for a bit, pondering. "You know, I've quite forgotten their names."

Saruman is the greatest my ass. Also, low blow man!

"They won't be happy to hear that," I mused. I couldn't keep them apart after two decades, which was bad enough. Meanwhile Gandalf knew them for at least as long as I was alive and he didn't even know their names. 

"Who is the sixth?"  
"Well, that would be Radagast, the Brown."  
"Is he a great wizard, or is he more... like you?" Gandalf looked offended at Bilbo's question and I giggled.  
"He is like Gandalf in a way. I always liked him," I answered.  
"I think he is a very great wizard in his own way. He is a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others," Gandalf explained.

"So, Dawn! Can you put an end to this deluge?" Nori tried me instead.  
"I am a healer, not a... whatever you call someone who can change the weather."  
"That's a bit disappointing."  
"I bet it is."  
"No more bets, you always win them. It's no fun," Bofur stopped me.

"How did you know Bilbo was coming?" Ori asked.  
I looked at Bilbo. "I know him well enough. And you don't listen carefully enough."  
"Huh, what's that?" Kili teased.  
"A boot up your arse, as soon as we stop."


	6. Dwarf stew, with a side of Elf.

"We'll camp here for tonight," Thorin yelled when we reached an abandoned farm. "Fili, Kili, look after the ponies. Make sure you stay with them." He began giving everyone orders.

I dismounted and sat down, leaning against a tree. He hadn't given me an order so I decided that I would rest my eyes, because I was a bit weary.  
I couldn't though, because Gandalf and Thorin started arguing.  
"I think it would be wiser to move on. We could make for the Hidden Valley." Gandalf sounded like he didn't trust this place. To be fair, something did smell... off.

"But I've told you already. I will not go near that place."  
"Why not? The Elves could help us, we could get food, rest, advice."  
"I do not need their advice," Thorin raised his voice.  
"We have a map that we cannot read. Lord Elrond could help us."  
I can't go to Imladris, as much as I'd love to. They'd surely find out that I am Elvish if we went that way. Plus, I was banished, even though it was long ago and a different kingdom, I'm not certain they'd even let me in. But we did need their help.

"Help? Orcs plunder Moria, desecrate our sacred halls, what help came from the Elves? A Dragon attacks Erebor, the Elves looked on and did nothing! You ask me to seek out the very people who betrayed my grandfather, who betrayed my father."

I turned my face away so that he could not see and question the hurt expression I must be wearing. I did want to do something but I was held back. I gave the army my orders only to be overruled. I'd even gotten myself banished for it. But ultimately, he was right. We betrayed his father and grandfather and we looked on and did nothing.  
To this day I still regretted obeying my father when he told me to cancel my orders.

"You are neither of them. I did not give you that map and key for you to hold on to the past."  
"I did not know they were yours to keep."

Gandalf stormed off in frustration and I got up and followed him.  
"Where are you going?" I asked him.  
"To seek the company of the only one here who's got any sense!" He still sounded fucking pissed.  
Bilbo had joined us as well. "And who's that?" he inquired.  
"Myself, master Baggins! I've had enough of Dwarves for one day! Dawn, make sure they don't do anything idiotic!"  
"And you expect me of all people to be capable of doing that?" Asking him was of no use because we'd stopped following him when we reached the edge of the camp.

-~-

I had just finished disappointing Gandalf by going out to hunt. Thorin stomped up to me. "Where have you been?" he demanded, holding up his finger like a stern father. It was quite cute actually, given I was more than a head taller than he was. 

I sheepishly held up the two pheasants I killed. "I was hunting."  
"Tell us where you are next time, we were worried." His voice was gentle now, in a way I didn't know it could be.  
"I might have forgotten that part, sorry," I apologized.  
"Now, go bring those birds to Bombur, he'll be happy with the meat." He put his hand on my shoulder and gently pushed me in Bombur's direction as if I was a small child that just barely learned how to walk. I did as I was told. Bombur was indeed happy, he thanked me and I sat at one of the logs around the fire while he readied the birds for his stew.

-~-

"Do you think he'll come back?" Bilbo asked when night had fallen.   
"He's a wizard! He does as he chooses! Here, do us a favour. Take this to the lads," Bofur dismissed Bilbo's worries and handed him two bowls of stew.  
"He'll be fine," I reassured him. "Be more worried about us, I don't like this place." The last bit was not that reassuring, I'll have to admit.

Bilbo went to take the stew to Kili and Fili while I remained at the campfire with the rest of the Company.  
"I am quite curious about this Dawn, how did you get kicked out of the Wizard Order?" Ori asked. The other dwarves sat ready to listen. Even Thorin looked mildly curious. "How did you get in there in the first place? You're not... not like Gandalf."  
I looked at Bofur with a big spoonful of stew still in my mouth. I chewed very quickly and swallowed it all in go. It was probably not a very attractive sight.  
"Indeed I am not. I used to hunt for and wait tables at the Prancing Pony in Bree a few years ago. A peculiar man with a long beard and a pointy hat had been going around town asking for potential apprentices. He stopped by the inn and I served him a drink and had a chat with him. I had no idea at all who he was, but he was very unlike the usual folk that stop by, so I was intrigued.   
He told me he was looking for an apprentice who could fend for themselves a bit and weren't too dumb to tie their shoelaces. He asked me if I knew such a person. Now, mind you, I wasn't overly fond of Bree and hadn't put in an effort to get to know its people, so I told him that I didn't really know anyone around and that he'd best ask the Elves in Rivendell. He just said that he'd been asking about me and that I fit the bill just fine. I jumped at the opportunity to get out of that town.  
After a week or two, we discovered that I have an affinity, as Gandalf called it, for magic. I trained very hard for about five years, got a title and generally stuck around Gandalf.   
Saruman the White didn't like me much from the get go. He said that my tongue is too sharp, can you imagine? I don't like him either. I trust him about as far as I can throw him and certainly didn't like his direct authority over me. The arsehole knew that. Hard not to really, I voiced my opinion of him often enough.   
Not my smartest move. He waited until Gandalf was off to Bree on his own and called for a meeting, with Gandalf gone, I got voted out. It wasn't a fair trial at all if you ask me. Wasn't even allowed to prepare a proper defence." This was the longest I'd ever talked in one piece, and frankly, the longest I'd held anyone's attention in a very long time. Even father would get interrupted or disinterested after a while of telling me off.

"No, Dawn, not fair at all," said Balin solemnly. If he knew the reasons why I'd been thrown out, he'd probably change his mind. I wasn't going to tell him though. If they believed that Saruman was unreasonable, that would be fine by me. It wasn't far-fetched anyway.

"Oh, I'll live. I do much better on my own authority anyway. And look where it got me. I would never have had the privilege of annoying you all to death with my mere presence if I hadn't been sent away." I was quite awkward in serious situations, especially if I'd created them, so I tried to lighten the mood.

It worked, the Company laughed. Even Thorin's features bore something that might have resembled a smile. I smiled back and got second helpings of Bombur's stew. It was that good.

-~-

Some time after the moon had reached it's highest point, I sat on a rock close to Bilbo, Kili and Fili as a lookout. I heard an Orc screech and drew my bow, pointing it into the woods where I thought I'd heard it come from.  
"What was that?" Bilbo asked, hastily walking back from the ponies.  
"Orcs," was Kili's simple answer.  
"Orcs?!" Bilbo exclaimed a bit too loudly.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Thorin awaken with a start. He looked in our direction but saw the two brothers teasing Bilbo.  
Fili realised that they were teasing Bilbo as well. I would join, but I was still trying to figure out how close the Orcs would be.  
"Throat-Cutters. There will be dozens of them out there," he explained.  
"The Lone-lands are crawling with them. They strike in the wee small hours when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet. No screams. Just lots of blood."  
Bilbo looked positively terrorised which caused the boys to laugh.

Fuck it. The bloody thing is far enough.

I jumped down from the behind the boys to give them a good scare. "And nothing beats the running blood of handsome young Dwarves!" I hissed in a hoarse voice while I held both their heads in my arms.  
They desperately wriggled free. It wasn't much of a challenge as I was limp with laughter.  
"It's not funny, Dawn!" Fili huffed as Kili pushed me over.  
"Yes it is!" 

"You think that's funny? Do you think a night raid by Orcs is a joke?" Thorin's stern and angry voice sounded behind me.  
"Oh lighten up, you old badger! We can handle one wounded Orc. And besides, we didn't mean anything by it," I said with a voice that still sounded highly amused.  
"Don't drag us into it," mouthed Fili.  
Thorin looked slightly offended as he said: "No, of course you didn't, you know nothing of the world," before he stalked off.  
"I know more of the world and it's hardships than you think," I said to the back of his head.

"Don't mind him, lassie, Thorin has more cause than most to hate Orcs," Balin explained. I sat down on the ground in front of him like the eager child that I am.  
I had plenty cause to hate Orcs myself; my mother had died at their hands. And so had plenty of good soldiers under my command.

Balin chuckled before he went on. "After the Dragon took the Lonely Mountain, king Thror tried to reclaim the ancient Dwarf kingdom of Moria," he paused, sunken in thought. "But our enemy had got there first. Moria had been taken by legions of Orcs, led by the most vile of all their race: Azog the Defiler. The giant Gundabad Orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin." 

I was no longer an eager child. I was a mildly-terrified child now. I looked at Thorin, who stood with his back to us, but I could tell that he was listening to the story.

Balin continued. "He began, by beheading the king." His voice was pained and I moved my head back in shock as I saw an image of Azog holding Thror's head. I didn't know what either of them looked like, but that didn't matter to the horrifying image in my mind.  
"Thrain, Thorin's father, was driven mad by grief. He went missing; taken prisoner or killed, we did not know. We were leaderless. Defeat and death were upon us."

I think everyone was listening at this point. Balin was a good story teller. It wouldn't have surprised me if he had been a teacher back in Erebor, or wherever they were after it got taken.

"That is when I saw him," Balin told me with a smile before he looked at Thorin. He was still looking off in the distance, likely seeing the battle flashing before his eyes. "A young Dwarf prince facing down the Pale Orc. He stood alone against this terrible foe wielding nothing but an oaken branch as shield. Azog the Defiler learned that day, that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken."

I looked between the youngest among us, a look of amazement that mirrored my own shone in their eyes.  
"Our forces rallied," Balin spoke again. "and our enemy had been defeated. But there was no feast, no song that night; for our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived. And I thought to myself then: there is one, who I could follow. There is one, I could call king."

I felt a new admiration for Thorin, something else too, but I didn't understand what. He turned around and looked at me.

I turned back to Balin as I felt a blush crawl up my face to my cheeks, luckily, my face was covered by my hood and the dark of night; wouldn't want them to think I am some easily flustered helpless girl.  
It's not that I wasn't easily flustered, because I was, and still am. It's just, I'm not a helpless girl. I am an easily flustered woman who'd pull a sword on you if you were to point it out.

"And the Pale Orc, what happened to him?" I asked curiously.  
Instead of Balin, Thorin answered. "He slunk back into the hole whence he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago."

Something about that gave me a weird feeling in my stomach. Maybe it was his gruff, deep voice.  
I climbed a tree and sat guard for the rest of the night, trying to figure out my emotions more than actually guarding.

-~-

I woke up to a set of running footfalls closing in on the camp.

Woke up? Shit! I dozed off!

I jumped to my feet with raised daggers. Most of the company was still awake and looked at me weird. "I think I heard something."  
I had barely finished my sentence when Fili came bolting into the clearing. He started to explain rapid fire but he was so out of breath that he only managed: "The ponies. Bilbo. Trolls."

I don't like Trolls, never have, never will. May the light of a thousand suns shine upon them, turning them to stone. If I assume correctly, and they had Bilbo, that would be quite concerning.

We ran into the woods after Fili. I recognised the odd scent now. The stink of Troll got stronger and stronger. If something not-Troll decided to attack us now, we would be caught by surprise.

We soon reached the egde of a clearing and hid in the undergrowth where Kili sat crouched.  
I peered into the clearing and saw three Trolls, arguing with our Bilbo. One of them was holding him. I listened to their conversation and waited for the oppertune moment to strike. Like when I could crack a joke before I attacked the nearest Troll.

"Are there any more of you little fellas hiding where you shouldn't?" One of the Trolls asked. I could smell his foul breath from here. How Bilbo managed not to spill his guts was beyond me. Maybe his nose was stuffed or something, he was allergic to ponies.

"No," Bilbo answered a tad too quickly. The Trolls seemed to question the validity of his answer. Or they were thinking about how well he would go with the stew, I couldn't really tell.

"You're lying!" Ah, keeping their disproportionately small heads at the conversation then.  
"No, I'm not." Bilbo's voice sounded slightly panicked.  
"Hold his toes over the fire. Make him squeal," said the stupidest looking Troll.

Kili found this the opportune moment to strike. He dashed in and slashed the leg of the Troll who had threatened Bilbo.   
"Drop him!" he shouted while raising his sword at them. It would've looked threatening if the Trolls weren't five times as tall as he was.  
"You what?" Said the more brutish troll of the three, the one who was holding Bilbo.

"I said drop him!" That is when we all rushed in. The Troll tossed Bilbo at Kili who caught him but fell on his butt after. I was distracted just a little too long as the brutish Troll yanked me up by the leg and held me tightly around the waist. I tried to struggle free but he was so big that he only had to use one hand as he squeezed the life out of me.

"Lay down your arms or we'll rip hers off!" Was the last thing I heard before I fainted.


	7. I will destroy you all with my hands tied.

I regained consciousness some time later. It came paired with a terrible headache and a continued feeling of drowsiness. Suffice to say, I was quite done with Trolls for at least until we pass the Misty Mountains. Then I wanted to throw a dagger in one's face.

I realised that I was draped face-down over Thorin's lap. My hands and ankles were tied as well. It must've looked very elegant. We hadn't been disarmed but I couldn't reach the weapons I had. My attempts to do so anyway alerted Thorin of the fact that was awake again.  
"Are you alright?" he asked quietly.  
"Of sorts. Are your hands bound infront of you, or behind you?" I replied.  
"I am in a sack," he grumbled.  
"Well fuck."  
"No need for that."  
"Yes there is need for that. We are going to be eaten unless someone manages to discreetly free all 15 of us." He didn't say anything, just gave a hum.

I couldn't see what was going on, so I tried to roll around.   
"What are you doing?"  
"I can't see shit."  
I fell to the ground. But hey! At least my ass wasn't in Thorin's face anymore. And I could now see what was going on.

I wish my face was hidden in Thorin's lap again. At least half of our group was tied around a spit. The Troll that was apparently the cook was turning it. The stupid-looking one approached him.

"Don't bother cooking 'em! Let's just sit on 'em and squash 'em into jelly."  
"They should be sauteed and grilled with a sprinkle of sage," the cook argued. It sounded at least partly sarcastic.  
"Oh that does sound quite nice," agreed Stupid.

"Never mind the seasoning, we ain't got all night! Dawn ain't far away, let's get a move on! I don't fancy being turned to stone!" yelled Brute.  
"Dawn is a couple of feet away from you, and I will turn you to stone!" I yelled at them. I heard some of the Dwarves behind me chuckle. An idea had clearly struck Bilbo as he hopped forward in his sack.

"Wait! You're making a terrible mistake!" he shouted.  
"You can't reason with them, they're half-wits!" I heard Dori say.  
"Half-wits? What does that make us?" replied Bofur.  
"Quarter-wits, as we got ourselves captured by them," I filled in.  
"That was just you," teased Thorin.  
"Shut up," I huffed.

I focussed on Bilbo and his plan again, I might be able to help him.  
"I meant with the uh.. with the.. with the seasoning," he stuttered.   
"What about the seasoning?" asked cook. Are you stalling for time Bilbo? Let's hope it works.

"Well, have you smelled them? You're gonna need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot up!"  
There were some yells of protest. A lot them actually.  
"The girl smelled fine."  
Humans, heh, incredibly bitter and a real hassle to get any bite off. I really wouldn't recommend it.

"She has.. a uh.. she's very ill, surprised she even made it this long to be honest."  
Bilbo to the rescue! Thanks mate. I feigned a cough.

"Not that one then, what do you know about cooking Dwarf?" asked the cook again.  
"Uh... the- the secret to cooking Dwarf is um..."  
"Yes, hurry a bit," nagged Brute.  
"Shut up, and let the...uh, flurgerburbur-hobbit talk."  
"The secret is to skin them first."

The Dwarves roared in protest. It was so loud that it hurt my ears. A grin spread over Cook's face. "Tom, get me filleting knife," he ordered. The stupid-looking one, who apparently was called Tom lumbered forward.  
"What a load of rubbish! I've eaten plenty with their skins on. Scoff 'em I say! Boots an' all!" argued Brute.

Well, this is... less than ideal. Wait! Is that Gandalf?

"He's right! Nothing wrong with a bit o' raw dwarf. Nice and crunchy," agreed Tom, grabbing Dwalin.

"Not that one! He's infected!" I yelled.  
"You what?" Asked Brute. By the Valar these guys were thick-skulled.

"Yeah, he's got worms in his...tubes," Bilbo went on. I meant with my disease but sure. 

Tom shrieked as he threw Dwalin down.  
"In-in fact, they all have. They're infested with parasites, it's a terrible business, I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't," Bilbo continued  
.  
"Parasites? Did he say parasites?" asked Oin, probably thinking he misheard.  
"Yeah, we don't have parasites! You have parasites!" Kili countered Bilbo.  
I shot them all a death glare over my shoulder. They seemed to realise what Bilbo was doing now.

Quarter-wits, the lot of them.

"I've got parasites as big as my arm!" Oin exclaimed.  
"Mine are the biggest parasites, I've got huge parasites!" Kili shouted.  
"We're riddled!"  
"Yes, I'm riddled!"  
"Yes, we are, badly!"  
"What would you have us do then? Let 'em all go?" argued Brute.  
"Well..." Bilbo started.  
"You think I don't know what you're up to? This little ferret is taking us for fools!"  
Blast! They were smarter than they looked. That still isn't too much of an accomplishment but it surely doesn't help.  
"Ferret?"  
"Fools?"  
"The dawn will take you all!" Gandalf stood on top of a rock with his staff raised.

"I'm a bit tied up at the moment!" I yelled back. I heard everyone present groan at my double pun. Even the Trolls. Whatever, I thought it was funny and I was quite pleased with myself.

"So who's that?"  
"No idea."  
"Can we eat him too?" The Trolls were clearly confused. 

Gandalf struck the rock with his staff and it broke in two, spilling sunlight over the clearing and turning the screaming Trolls into stone within seconds. The Dwarves celebrated with whoops and cheers until Dwalin groaned: "Oh, get your foot out of my back."

Gandalf cut Bilbo loose, Bilbo cut the rest of us loose. "Yeah, leave me lying here with my face in the mud," I complained when I got freed last.  
"That's what you get for making puns." 

Fair. 

When I'd been cut loose I immediately went to seek out a stream of water to get the smell of Troll out of me. Gandalf tried to stop me.

"Can I not leave you in charge for one second?" He told me off.  
"It was quite a bit longer than a second. Now let me go, I stink of Troll and I am this close to spilling my guts, tell the others to go back to the camp and that I'll find them!" With that, I was off in the direction of where I saw a creek during my hunting trip earlier.

When I got there I pulled off my boots and dipped my foot into the water. It was a bit cold to my liking but I'd much rather be cold than reek of Troll.   
I quickly scanned the area before I stripped down completely and dove into the stream. I washed everywhere very thoroughly. Then I grabbed my clothes and washed them. When I was done, I spread my clothes out onto a rock and went to sit on one myself, combing my hair with my fingers. When most of the tangles were gone, I got it al to one side so it could dry a bit. By the time I was done de-tangling, I was dry as well. My clothes were still damp, but I didn't feel super comfortable being naked with fifteen men quite close to me. So I pulled them on, filled my waterskin and drank some water. Then I pulled my hood over my ears, as it had been for these last weeks.

When I returned to the abandoned farmhouse I found it, well, abandoned. I did hear the Dwarves close by though, so went in the direction of the noise.  
I reached the edge of the forest and saw the company standing outside a cave.  
"Where have you been if I may ask?" asked Thorin sternly. Did he really have to know where I was at all times?

"I went to bathe at the stream."  
"Why are your clothes wet?"  
"Everything smelled of Troll."  
"What took you so long?"  
"I couldn't find you at the old camp. Now, into the Troll hoard you go. Find me some treasure," I winked.  
He rolled his eyes. "Don't you want to go in to find some for yourself?"  
"Are you mad? I just barely got the smell out my hair," I joked while perching myself on a boulder near the entrance.

Thorin rolled his eyes again and went it while I basked in the sun to dry up further. He probably thought I was whining too much about the smell. But as an Elf, my nose is sharper and found that they could all really use a bath too. 

After a while, I got bored. I jumped down and approached Fili and Kili, who were sparring with eachother. I waited until they were done to ask: "Any of you want to duel?" I wasn't that good with a sword, the only advantage I would have over them that I was certain of was my speed and footwork.

Kili drew his sword. "No funny stuff," he joked. I laughed as I drew my sword as well.   
"No promises."

As we clashed, it turned out that Kili was quite a bit better than me, and he was faster than I had anticipated. Some of the Company watched. Placing bets. My sword clanged against Kili's. And another time. And another.  
I went to jump over him but he anticipated it and grabbed my foot, yanking me down. I spit out a bite of grass as he set one of his knees on my back. "You win," I gave in. "This time."

He released me and I rolled on my back and smirked at him.   
He wasn't smirking, or even acknowledging mine. The rest of the Company had gone eerily quiet aswell. "Is something wrong?" I asked no one in particular.

"Are you an Elf?" Kili sounded hurt.  
My eyes widened as my hands flew to my ears, my hood had fallen down and my ears peaked out from under my hair.

Shitshitshitshit! This was way too early. Ideally this would have happened somewhere between the other side of the Misty Mountains and never.

"Yes, yes, I am. I'm so sorry," I confessed. "Please don't tell Thorin, he'll... I don't know what he'll do but I have a feeling that I'm not going to like it."

I heard a sword unsheathe and flinched when I felt it's cold metal pushing the tip of my ear up. "He doesn't have to tell me anything, I saw."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh.


	8. Please pardon my ears ending in points, they do that sometimes.

Thorin sounded pissed the fuck off. I understood that, but given it was directed at me, I was quivering with fear. "Please, put your sword away, I can explain," I pleaded. My voice sounded surprisingly steady, given how much I wanted to curl up and cry.

He didn't immediately kill me which was nice of him, but he did ask a question: "Why did you lie to us?" It was such a simple question, he didn't even raise his voice, but I'd rather that he'd screamed at me. Then at least I could have screamed back. Now I had to respond in the civilised way, which I sucked dick at. I had been in this sort of situation before, twice no less. Those times it didn't end well. So I had to think about my next words very carefully.

"Well, it wasn't lying, exactly, more hiding the truth." Thorin's furious glare made me swallow heavily. Not good then. "Which is much, much worse," I tried to correct myself, but it was hopeless. The company's expressions ranged from devastated to pissed off to betrayed. "But... if you knew I was of Elvish descend from the start, would you have agreed to take me with you?" I returned Thorin's question with one of my own. I didn't want him to answer it.

"Who are you really?" I was still sat on the ground, propped up on my elbows. I looked away, tears threatening to leave my eyes. Then I heard something heading towards us. 

Fast.

"Something's coming..."  
"Do not change the subject, Elf!" It wounded me deeply that he didn't use my name. It likely wounded him deeper that I'd lied to all of them.  
"No really, listen..."

A sled pulled by a dozen giant rabbits burst out of the trees. "Thieves! Fire! Murder!"  
Everyone had drawn their weapons. I was still on the ground but my sword was steady in my hand.

"Radagast. It's Radagast the Brown," Gandalf sighed in relief. Where were you when I was being verbally attacked, Gandalf?

I was still on the ground. I quickly wiped my eyes and sat up.   
"What on Earth are you doing here?" Gandalf asked Radagast.  
"I was looking for you, Gandalf. Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong," Radagast explained vaguely.  
"Yes?" Gandalf pressed on.  
"Just give me a minute. Um...Oh! I had a thought and now I've lost it. It was, it was was right there, on the tip of my tongue!" Radagast stuck his tongue out and pointed vigorously at it. He had a kind of large bug in his mouth. "Oh! It's not a thought at all! It's a silly old stick insect."   
Gandalf removed the stick insect from Radagast's mouth. This earned the pair of them some disturbed looks from Bilbo, Fili and Oin.

"So... Why were you looking for Gandalf?" I asked him, getting up.   
"The Greenwood is sick, Kahlahari. A darkness has fallen over it. Nothing grows anymore, at least nothing good. The air is foul with decay. But worst are the webs."  
"Webs? What do you mean?" Gandalf asked. I already knew what this meant. And it was not good.

"Spiders, Gandalf. Giant ones. Some kind of spawn of Ungoliant, or I am not a Wizard. I followed their trail. They came from Dol Guldur."  
It was especially not good if you're like me, and are mortally afraid of spiders. Only ones the size of horses though. Don't laugh, I have a very good reason to fear them.

Centuries ago, when I was so young I could barely walk, I was like 'no fuck you dad' and slipped outside. He had explicitly told me not to, but I had nicked an arrow so I was basically a god. Until the spiders came and my father had to rescue me. Since then I have a very rational fear of spiders the size of cattle.

"Dol Guldur? But the old fortress is abandoned."  
"No, Gandalf, it is not. A dark power dwells in there, such as I have never felt before. It is the shadow of an ancient horror. One that can summon the spirits of the dead. I saw him, Gandalf. From out of the darkness, a Necromancer has come." He seemed to be reliving a stressful memory, so Gandalf gave him a smoke from his pipe to settle his nerves.

He and Gandalf walked out of the Dwarves' earshot to discuss the Necromancer. I was about to walk with them when Thorin stopped me. "No, you will remain right here where we can keep an eye on you."

I still felt like an asshole, but I wouldn't stand for this. "What am I now, your prisoner? Why don't you tie my hands together again, put a rope around my neck and treat me like a dog?"   
"We just might, Elf."

There it was again. His refusal to use my name. He was right to be angry, they all were, but I had a right to defend myself, even if it was half-crying half-screaming. "I have a name, Thorin!"

Thorin said nothing but he still looked very angry. Bilbo pulled me aside. "Wonderful situation you've gotten yourself into," he remarked, leaning on an outsticking tree root and gazing off into the distance.  
"It had to happen someday. Rather here than in Rivendell. They would leave me behind for sure. They might still," I took deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. Yelling and crying wouldn't help me, so I might as well save myself the effort.  
"Don't worry, by the time we get there most of them will have at least come to terms with the shape of your ears."  
"I know most of them will eventually, but, the thing is, they don't yet know who my father is. I hope. If they do, I'm afraid that the Company will be one member short very soon."

Then I heard it. A sound so terrifying it turned my blood to ice. Even more terrifying than the sound of Thorin sort-of calmly calling you out on a lie. My head snapped in it's direction as I drew my bow and fitted in an arrow with shaking hands. A Warg's howl.

"Was that a wolf? Are there wolves out here?" Bilbo sounded justly afraid.  
"Wolves? No that is not a wolf," said Bofur.  
"I wish it were," I said.

Without further warning, the Warg burst out the bushes. It snarled at us and sprinted in our direction, foam falling out from between it's large fangs.  
Thorin braced himself, holding his sword ready. Before the Warg could reach him though, I released my arrow and planted it in the Warg's right eye. It fell over, dead without a sound.

Then a second one burst through the brush. Kili fired an arrow of his own but it didn't kill the beast. Dwalin raised his axe and brought it down hard on the second Warg's head. It was very much dead now.

"Warg scouts! Which means an Orc pack is not far behind!" Thorin bellowed. He gave me a look that told me that he wasn't done with me. It scared me more than the Orcs. I nodded submissively and loaded another arrow onto my bow.

This submissiveness was not my style. Usually arguments with me turned into shouting matches, like this almost had. I knew Thorin was right though, and it felt wrong to even put up the slightest defence.

"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?" Gandalf sounded quite angry.  
"No one," Thorin sounded both on edge and angry.  
"Who did you tell!?"   
"No one I swear! What in Durin's name is going on?" I was wondering that myself. Thorin looked at me in suspicion again and that stung. I might have made a 'what the fuck' face but only when his back was turned.

He was suspicious about my time spent away from the company after the Troll endeavour. Even though it was only a bath and a drink, and there wasn't even a smell of Orcs that I could detect above my own smell of Troll.

Gandalf and Thorin were having a shouting match now that could only alert the Orc pack of our location. I decided to put a stop to it.  
"Boys, shut it. This arguing will get us nowhere but killed. So cut it out!" I sincerely hoped Thorin didn't actually think that I'd warned the Orc pack when I was gone. Or that I gave them reports when I was out hunting.

Gandalf calmed down considerably. "You are being hunted," he explained.  
"We have to get out of here!" Dwalin exclaimed.  
"We can't! We have no ponies! They bolted!" Ori sounded panicked, I agreed, this was a good time for some of us to panic, not all of us, but maybe Ori, Fili and me. The rest needed to keep their heads.

"I'll draw them off," offered Radagast. I liked that idea, his rabbits were super fucking fast, I wasn't sure if they could outrun the Wargs, but it was the best option we had as far as I could see. Which generally is quite far with Elves' superior sight and all that.

"These are Gundabad Wargs, they'll outrun you," Gandalf argued.  
"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits. I'd like to see them try."

Before he sped off I wished him good luck. Then we were running from boulder to boulder, it must've looked rather funny, but I didn't think it was.

I hate Orcs. They are worse than Trolls. They are a lot smarter and it's quite annoying. How did they know to keep the wind in their direction when most of the Company just learned I had better senses then they thought about an hour ago? 

Gandalf and Thorin led us with me right behind them. Suddenly, Thorin stopped in his tracks. I hadn't seen it coming and bumped against him. I knew better than to say anything about it but apparently Thorin didn't trust I would. He roughly put his hand over my mouth. I batted it away and shot him a glare.  
"Where are you leading us?" He asked Gandalf, who was at the next rock already. He didn't answer and beckoned us forward. Thorin growled a bit but did as he was told and we continued on.

I saw one of the Orcs stop and sniff the air. He looked in our direction suspiciously, he hadn't spotted us yet. "Guys, hide!" I ordered. Luckily, no one questioned whether they should listen to me or not and we all dove behind a rock.

I heard the Warg's claws scrape on the rock above us. Thorin looked at me and Kili and then he indicated the Orc with a small nod of his head. We both drew our bows.   
We snuck forward a bit and jumped. In mid-air we let our arrows go. Kili's embedded itself in the Warg's left eye, mine pierced the Orc's heart. They both fell off the boulder. The Warg was dead. The Orc however, was not. Dwalin charged at it with his axe and bashed his head in. It died with an awful sound.

We all looked at it with pained and cringed expressions. I heard one of the Orcs say something in the distance. It was in Black Speech, so I couldn't understand it, but it sounded like an order.  
"Run!" Gandalf yelled from a distance away. You didn't have to tell us a second time. We bolted it straight at him. 

I looked over my shoulder and wished dearly I hadn't. The Orcs were closer than I had anticipated. A lot closer. And we were not Rhosgobel rabbits, so we couldn't outrun them for long.  
"Kili! Dawn! Shoot them! Shoot them down!" Thorin ordered.

Kili and I drew our bows again and fired arrows. We killed a few Orcs and a few Wargs, but it did slow the two of us down considerably. The Company stayed with us though. I was mostly happy that Thorin had used my name again, even if it was likely just a slip-up born from a tense situation.

Kili and I alone weren't enough against the Orc pack and we were soon surrounded. We fired arrows left, right and center as quickly as we could. Our accuracy must have suffered tremendously but I didn't look at one Orc long enough to see if I actually hit.  
"Where is Gandalf?" Kili shouted. He sounded overwhelmed by all the Orcs, and to be honest, so was I.  
"Has he abandoned us?" asked Dwalin.

A very scarred Warg strode forward with an even more scarred Orc on it's back. The Orc's gaze went over us all, resting on me. I spat on the ground before him. He snarled viciously in return. I didn't break my posture of what I hoped was defiance as I drew my sword. Thorin drew his. It glowed with a blue light. 

Huh. Elvish.

That confused me for a second. Thorin with an Elvish weapon. "This way!" shouted Gandalf. That brought me back to Earth.   
"All of you, go! Go!" bellowed Thorin. He needn't have said it twice. I threw a dagger at a Warg, which embedded itself between its eyes. The Warg toppled over and we raced through the new opening the Orc's formation. Kili and I still fired arrows behind us.   
"Kili!"  
Our heads snapped around. We didn't realise that we had fallen back that much. We raced eachother and the Wargs to the rock.

When we reached it, I didn't expect the cave, so I fell rather ungracefully down the entrance. I landed hard on my butt and groaned. Kili did know there was a cave. He slid down gracefully and landed on his feet and pat me on the shoulder with a cocky smirk as he walked past.  
"Are you sure that you're an Elf? You're about as graceful as that lot out there," Fili joked, indicating the Orc pack.

Kili laughed. Good. At least the two of them accepted that I was different and we were still friends.  
I drew a dagger from my boot and pointed it at Fili.  
"Fili, I will slash your throat, I threatened him.  
Just then the corpse of a dead Orc rolled in. It made me jump a meter into the air and nearly slash my own throat.

The boys were almost dying with laughter now. An embarrassed blush crept it's way up my cheeks. "Shut it," I huffed.

Thorin examined the body and pulled out the arrow that was lodged in it's head. "Elves," he said in disgust before he threw the arrow down.  
I don't know why it hurt that much, but it did. It was more than slight personal offense. I slipped behind Thorin and stuffed the arrow in my quiver.

"I cannot see where the pathway leads. Do we follow it or no?" Asked Dwalin from what I thought was the back of the cave. It turned out to be a tunnel.  
"Follow it of course!" replied Fili, already starting to walk toward it.  
"I think that would be wise," Gandalf grinned to himself. Bilbo eyed him suspiciously.


	9. I don't have a small degree of charm.

The path was narrow, and because the Dwarves were all quite broad, they had to push quite a bit. I could tell that after half an hour, they were already annoyed to the point of giving up. The only problem being, we couldn't really go back. Not that I wanted to. I could feel the magic radiating from the very walls. This was the secret entrance to Rivendell.

Rivendell... I hadn't been there in nearly twenty five centuries.  
I remembered how I would join my parents and brother when we were younger. Legolas and I always sought out Lindir, who was about Legolas's age, and we would fool around like the mischievous little Elflings that we were. A happy memory struck me.

-~-

I was sitting on one of the stone beams of the hallway adjoining the meeting room in the palace. I had a vase of water in my hands. Legolas and Lindir were on lookout for our fathers.

They said that I had to empty the vase over uncle Elrond's and ada's heads, but I had different plans. I had sat there for over hour and my butt was starting to hurt. Suddenly I saw Legolas and Lindir running down the hall. They were about halfway when I saw our fathers round the corner.

Elrond spotted me immediately. We grinned at eachother and then I winked. Well, blinked more like, but you get the idea. He did anyway.

When Legolas and Lindir were almost under my beam, I emptied the vase, drenching them in water. Then I jumped to the next beam and dropped down, sprinting at my father and quickly climbing his robes until I was sat on his arm as he held me.  
I then looked behind me to see Legolas and Lindir running up to us, dripping water everywhere.

They halted infront of us. Lindir took a look at his father and then down at his wet clothes.  
"Father?"  
"Yes, my son?"  
"Do you know how much I love you?"  
"Well, I might-" Before he could finish his sentence, Lindir squeezed him in a tight, wet hug. Legolas took his example and hugged our father.

Both dads were wet as well now. After a few minutes of laughter, Thranduil spoke.  
"Kahlahari is the only one who is still dry, do you know what I think?"  
"Group hug!" Legolas yelled exitedly.  
"Nooo!!!" I wriggled free of my father's embrace and bolted down the hall.

I found my mother walking around the garden and shot under her dress. "What are you doing, little fawn?" She asked in an amused tone.  
"I'm not here!" I informed her in my tiny voice. She laughed.

I heard footsteps coming our way. "My love, have you seen Kahlahari?" Dad asked. He probably heard me giggling, as he chuckled as well. Mother burst out laughing. "She's not here," She managed to say between laughs.

"Then she wouldn't mind this," He and my mother went on to make very exaggerated kissing sounds. Now that I think back on it, I don't think they were actually kissing.  
"Eeheew! Father!" I exclaimed, before clasping my hand to my mouth. Now both of them were laughing again. I dove out from under mother's dress. 

Right into the arms of a waiting Elrond, who slung me over his shoulder and carried me to the fountain.

-~-

Needless to say, I was soaked that evening. I smiled at the memory when I felt a tug on my cloak.

"Hm? What?"  
"We still want to know who you really are. Or your real name at least. Dawn doesn't sound all that Elvish," Kili said, more curious than angry. I wish I could say the same for Thorin. The rest of them also seemed to be a bit mad, or just disappointed but it was like Thorin took personal offense.  
"Erm, will you promise not to kill me?"  
Thorin considered for a moment before he nodded curtly.

I drew a deep breath. "I didn't lie about my name. I just translated it. My given name is Kahlahari Thranduiliell, I used to be the princess and general of Mirkwood, but I was banished about seven decades ago," I didn't want to talk about it for as long as I had when I told them about my misadventures as a Wizard.

No one said anything, and I tried to hide in my hood.

"Why did you get banished?" asked Bilbo. He already knew of course, but he must have thought that the company knowing the details might work in my favour.

"I seem to have problem with authority. I called Thranduil a traitor for not honouring the allegiance and aiding your people in your flight when you lost Erebor. It feels right to help with reclaiming it."

"The flight was indeed terrible, we were there," explained Balin, who also wasn't that angry. He had probably guessed sooner than the duel, but had chosen not to tell anyone.

"I am truly sorry about the way we just stood there and did nothing."  
"So you're just doing this to annoy your dad?" Fili asked, unimpressed.  
"If I wanted to defy him I would have married a Dwarf decades ago," I huffed at him. "I am doing this because I genuinely want to help you."

The silence that fell was quite awkward. I could feel Thorin's angry glare burning through the back of my head. The rest seemed to be either indifferent or fine with it, which is much better I had hoped for. They were way more accepting than Gandalf had warned me for, and for that, I was very grateful. I just wish Thorin was that accepting too.

-~-

The evening light spilled through the wide crack in the roof. I could feel the magic of Rivendell very strongly now. It was very welcoming. 

Bilbo looked around in amazement. He seemed to sense it as well. "Gandalf, where are we?" I heard him ask.  
"You can feel it?" Gandalf asked incredulously.  
"Yes, it feels like- well, like magic," he did such a poor job explaining it that I grinned to myself.  
"Well, that is exactly what it is, my friend. A very powerful magic," I also did a poor job explaining, Bilbo looked confused.

"There is light ahead," reported Dwalin. We must be getting close now. I was getting exited, which couldn't possibly be very strategic at all. If Thorin saw me exited to visit an Elvish settlement, he might just leave there and I did not want that.

Gandalf sqeezed past to take the lead as we neared the end of the tunnel. We finally reached the end and we poured out onto a ridge that looked over the valley.

There lay Rivendell, gleaming in the golden light of sunset. Bilbo looked amazed at the sight of it. Just wait until I show you the gardens Bilbo.  
"The valley of Imladris. In the common tongue, it is known by another name," Gandalf narrated.

"Rivendell," Bilbo finished for him. He looked pleased. The Dwarves however, looked very displeased.  
"Here lies the last homely house east of the sea," Gandalf continued.

Thorin wheeled around to face Gandalf, steam just about coming out of his ears. "This was your plan all along, to seek refuge with our enemy."   
"You have no enemies here, Thorin Oakenshield. The only ill-will to be found in this valley is that which you bring yourself," Gandalf had clearly had enough of Thorin for one day.  
"You think the Elves will give our quest their blessing? They will try to stop us!" Thorin argued.

"I give this quest my blessing," I muttered just loud enough them to hear.  
"I don't think you count," Kili whispered.  
"If I don't count as an Elf then what's the point being angry about me being one? " I whispered back.

"Have you finished?" Gandalf interrupted us.  
"Yes, of course, carry on with your argument."

He rolled his eyes and turned back to Thorin. "Of course they will try to stop us. But we have questions that need to be answered. If we are to be succesful, this will need to be handled with tact and respect and no small degree of charm, which is why you leave all the talking to me, and Kahlahari."

"It's Dawn, and tact and respect aren't really my forte," I tried to weasel my way out of diplomacy.

"Neither is charm," snickered Kili. I rammed him in the side with my elbow. He fell over. "Well, it's not yours either my friend," I teased as I didn't help him up.  
Gandalf looked at me sternly and led us down to the gate.


	10. Kili's not gay. I think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's hard to tell which conversations are in Elvish and which are not. Just assume that if the conversation is just between Elves or contains information that shouldn't reach certain ears, it's in Elvish. Most familial stuff between Elrond, Lindir and Dawn is Elvish too.
> 
> I'll find a way to make it clearer soon enough. I've thought of something but it's 2 am now and I want to sleep.

I saw Lindir walk down the staircase at the gate to greet us. I pulled my hood lower over my head. "Don't like him?" teased Fili.  
"Maybe she does like him, and that is why she hides herself," Kili went on.  
"I haven't seen him in nearly two-and a-half-thousand years."

That baffled them. "How old are you?" Kili asked. "Lost count, somewhere around 253 decades, so I was only a child when I last saw him."  
"Oh 253, that's not that ol- wait, decades?" Fili didn't seem to be able to wrap his head around it. I knew I was about the same age Durin V would be if he was still alive. I also knew that Durin V was very distant forefather of Fili, Kili and Thorin. I laughed bit. "I guess most Elves look younger than they are to anyone who isn't an Elf."

When we were finally down on the little square infront the gate, Lindir was descending the final steps.  
"Mithrandir," he greeted with a smile.  
"Ah, Lindir," Gandalf replied. As they greeted eachother, the Dwarves murmured their mistrust. I rolled my eyes and went over to Gandalf and Lindir.

"~You've grown,~" I informed the latter as I took my hood off.  
"~And you're still short,"~ he said before he even looked at me.  
"~Shut up. I'm taller than this lot,"~ I indicated the Dwarves.  
"~By a head, they are Dwarves. Shortie.~"  
"~I'm a very respectable five-and-a-halve feet. It's not my fault you Elves are all six feet or taller.~"  
"~You're an Elf too, though questionably.~"  
"~Still shut up.~"

Gandalf coughed into his hand to remind us he was still there. "I must speak with Lord Elrond," he informed Lindir.  
"My Lord Elrond is not here."  
I jumped when horns suddenly started blaring. "Ah, now he is." When I turned around I saw armed horse riders coming into the courtyard. They circled around the Company who drew their weapons. 

"~You're scaring them, slow down,~" I said sarcastically. Lindir stifled a laugh.

They slowed down to a halt. Elrond rode over to us. "Gandalf!" he greeted. When he dismounted his horse, he and Gandalf embraced in a hug.

Lindir decided to skip over their greeting. "~So where have you been these past two millennia?~" he asked me.  
"~Oh, you know me. Ran around the forest, caused some trouble. Became the general of Mirkwood. Got banished. Became a wizard. Got banished again. Living the high life.~"  
"~That's not how I know you at all. Puberty changed you,~" he smirked.  
"~I hit puberty more than 2450 years ago!~" I retorted.

"If the the two of you are quite done flirting like Elflings," Elrond interrupted us. He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me up into a hug. He said it in the common tongue to embarrass me. I just knew it.  
Over his shoulder I could see Thorin glaring at Lindir in... was that jealousy? 

"I wasn't flirting," I mumbled into Elrond's chest before I returned the embrace. When he had sufficiently broken my ribs, Elrond broke the embrace. He pulled a throwing knife out of his robe. "~I take it this is yours?~"  
It was the dagger I had put between the Warg's eyes. "~It is, thank you, uncle.~"  
He took both of my upper arms in his hands and at gave me a friendly smile. "~You've grown,~" he told me.

I smirked over my shoulder at Lindir. "~See?~"  
He rolled his eyes. "~You're still short.~"

Thorin stepped up and tried to pull me back to the Company by my wrist.  
Elrond didn't seem to realise as he greeted Thorin, not with a hug this time. "Welcome Thorin, son of Thrain."

Thorin let go of my arm. "I do not believe we have met."  
"You have your grandfather's bearing. I knew Thror when he ruled under the mountain," Elrond explained.  
"He made no mention of you." I kicked Thorin's foot. 'Behave' I mouthed, but Elrond ignored Thorin's insult as he turned to the rest of the company.

"~Light the fires, bring forth the wine. We must feed our guests.~"  
The Dwarves didn't know what to make of this. They gripped their weapons uneasily. Gloin stepped forward, raising his axe. "What is he saying? Does he offer us insult?"  
"Not unless you think being offered food is insulting," I shrugged.

The Dwarves circled, discussing what to do in whispers.  
"We can totally hear you," I called.  
Kili flipped me off, I walked up behind him and pulled his leg out from underneath him, making him fall. "Are you done? I'm hungry," I whined.

The circle broke. "Well in that case, lead on," said Gloin.  
Lindir led me down to one of the guest chambers. "~Take a bath,~" He said. "~You smell.~"  
"~Go kiss an Orc,~" I stuck out my tongue at him and went inside the chambers.

Three Elf maids led me to a bathroom and rubbed my skin raw trying to get all the dirt and grime off. When I was finally done, they put a white underdress on me, then they got a corset and pulled it way to tight. I tried to convince them that I didn't need a tight corset and that I was fine with the way my body was shaped, but they said it was on Lindir's orders.

Remind me to put him in a corset later.

The girls had taken my hair out of it's braid and pinned it out of my face in Elvish fashion. My eyes would be visible now, as they forbid me to wear my cloak. I had kept them hidden more since I told the Company who my dad was. The last thing I wanted them to tell me is that I have my father's eyes.

When the maids were finally satisfied with my hair, they gave me a loose fitting light green dress with long sleeves. It was a little low cut for my liking but then again, everything that showed cleavage was too low cut in my opinion. And nearly everything on me showed at least some cleavage. Especially when I wasn't allowed to bind them so they wouldn't hinder me. 

Lindir waited for me at the door. "~There, you smell a lot better,~" he smiled. I frowned at him.  
"I~ will kill you in your sleep for making me wear a corset."~  
"~In my defence, you were already wearing one.~"  
"~Very loosely~."

He walked me down to the feast hall. We made small talk and joked around a bit.  
There were only two chairs left, one between Fili and Kili at the Company table, which I took, and one at a smaller table with Thorin, Gandalf and Elrond, which Lindir took.

"What took you two so long?" Fili asked with a mischievous undertone. "Seen any meat?"  
I glared at him. "You have a pretty face," he said all of a sudden. I was taken aback and didn't answer. "Now that we know you're Elvish, you should show it more often."

I was bad at recieving compliments. "I, Uh.. thanks.. I, I will," I was guessing that my cheeks were red. I chose to ignore that fact and dug into the food.

"I can't say I fancy Elf maids myself," explained Kili as he was just done disrobing one with his eyes. "Too thin. They're all high cheekbones and creamy skin. Although that one's not so bad," he cocked his head at a passing Elf. He was not a lady, and I burst out laughing.

"I... can't.. breathe," I weezed. "Corset.. too... tight... Help..."  
"Why are you laughing?"  
"I am guessing that that is not an Elf maid," Dwalin tried, before roaring with laughter when I nodded, the rest of Company joined us. Only Kili didn't.  
"It's funny," he said.

When the laughter had died down, and I had managed to climb on my seat again, Elrond examined Gandalf's sword.  
"Where'd he get the sword?" I asked.  
"We found a pair in the Troll hoard, Thorin has the other," explained Bofur.  
"Ah, must've missed that."

I listened to Elrond talk about the sword. "This is Glamdring, the Foe-hammer, sword of the king of Gondolin." He was handed an other sword, it must have been Thorin's. "And this is Orcrist, the Goblin Cleaver, a famous blade, forged by the high Elves of the west. My kin, may it serve you well." 

"That is Orcrist? That blade has been lost since the end of the Goblin war in the first era!" I got up to get a closer look. I had read about it when I was younger and again in Isengard.  
"~You paid attention in your history classes?~" Lindir asked in a tone of surprise that sounded so genuine that I was offended.

"~Yes. Contrary to popular belief, I was a very good student and not only focussed on fighting it out. Quite fond of history too,~" I set my own record straight.

I looked at Thorin. "May I?" He shrugged his indifference. I grabbed the blade and stepped a few paces back. I gave it a couple of swings. I couldn't really show off as my movement was still restricted by the corset.

I gave it back to Thorin. "By my inability to lift it properly with one hand, I would guess that it is one handed," I laughed. He grumbled something at me and I went back to my seat. Self depreciating jokes were not something he found funny enough to ignore my ears. 

I saw Bilbo looking under the table, at his own sword. It was way shorter than Orcrist and Glamdring. Balin gave him a pityful smile. "I wouldn't bother laddie, swords are named for the great deeds they do in war."  
Bilbo looked up. "What are you saying, my sword hasn't seen battle?"  
"I'm not actually sure it is a sword; more of a letter opener really."  
"Or a dagger, they aren't named because their wielders are more of the sneaky types, and their great deeds go unnoticed until it is too late." That seemed to make Bilbo feel a bit better.

"How did you come by these?" Elrond asked.  
"We found them in a Troll-hoard on the Great East Road, shortly before we were ambushed by Orcs," Gandalf explained.  
"And what were you doing on the Great East Road?" Elrond asked.

No one asnwered, Thorin rose, excused himself and left quickly.  
I quickly thought up a story. "We are going to a funeral in the Iron Hills. The deceased was a good friend of Thorin's."

"Oh, in that case, give him my condolences."  
"I will," I promised, but I stayed seated. 

"By the way, want to learn some Sindarin swears?" I asked Fili and Kili when individual conversations had started. They looked at eachother with bright eyes and mischievous smirks.  
"Go on..." Kili said in the voice he used for mock-flirting.  
"Right, buckle up boys. I use ~go kiss an Orc~ quite often. It means go kiss an Orc. ~Your head is empty~ is also a nice one, your head is empty," I taught them some more and they seemed to like it. I also taught them to say "you are fairer than the moon," but told them it meant something along the lines of "fuck you and everything you stand for." That would be fun if they yelled it at enemies. They had probably done something similar to me, knowing them. *Smooth-chinned bastard* probably meant something like "nice beard." 

Bofur had had enough of the mournful music as he got up on the table and began singing.

"There's an inn, There's an inn, there's a merry old inn beneath an old grey hill.  
And there they brew a beer so brown that the man in the moon himself came down one night to drink his fill.

The ostler has a tipsy cat that plays a five string fiddle.  
And up and down he saws his bow now sqeaking high, now purring low.

Now sawing in middle,  
the cat on the fiddle played hey-diddle-diddle;  
a jig that would wake the dead.  
He squeaked and he sawed and he quickened the tune, while the landlord shook the man in the moon.  
"It's after three!" he said."

I'd heard the song in the Prancing Pony a few times and sung merrily along. The other Elves looked appalled and Elrond looked insulted.  
When the food fight started though, I quickly fled.


	11. The tension is tangible, or so I'm told.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I edited everything to make it clearer what language is spoken at any given time.
> 
> Common  
> ~Elvish~  
> *Dwarvish*
> 
> Also this chapter and the last were some of my favourites to write.

I quickly went to my chambers and got rid of the corset. "That's enough of you," I mumbled as I cast it aside. I also loosened my hair-do, as it was giving me a head ache.

After some wandering around, I found Thorin in the gardens, with an expression on his face that I could not read.  
"Elrond told me to give you his condolences," I told him as I leaned on the handrail next to him. I had startled him, but he quickly realised it was just me and regained his composure.

"What for?" he asked.  
"I told him we're going to the funeral of a close friend of yours in the Iron Hills."  
"He didn't question your presence at a Dwarfish funeral?" He turned back to look out over the garden.   
"He must have thought I was someone's wife," I joked.  
He chuckled. "The boy might not be too happy about that."

I turned on my heel very quickly to face him. My dress swished around my feet because of the speed. "We were NOT flirting!"  
"You might not have been, but the looks he gives you are a different story."  
"Psh, as if. Remind me to kill him later."  
"You just kill anyone who shows slight attraction to you?"  
"Usually, no. He made me wear a tight corset. And he absolutely does not like me that way! We were friends when were kids."  
"In that case, go ahead," he feigned a shocked expression.

Turning back to look at the gardens and the night sky, I sighed. "I'm sorry that I lied to you."  
Thorin took a while to answer, but eventually, he did. "In hindsight, I'm glad that you did. I don't think we'd taken you with us if we knew from the start."

"Even if I did kick your ass?" I side-eyed him with a smirk.  
"The sword is still one handed." He turned his face to mine with a smile.

Thorin seemed to have at least come to terms with my being Elvish. We stood in silence for a long time, but it wasn't awkward. It was quite comfortable actually. I listened to the sounds of dusk. The bugs chirping in the garden and Elves pouring each other drinks. 

Thorin suddenly cupped my face and covered my ears with his hands. It startled me a bit and it also tickled. "What are you doing?" I asked. I made no move to get his hands away from my face. Even when he slid his fingers along the shells. Which did cause a small gasp on my part. 

"Your ears move slightly when you hear things," Thorin explained. "It's- kind of endearing."   
I was very certain that the heat from my flushed face burned his hands.   
"I- uh- thanks. They're very- very sensitive," I wasn't sure if it all came out in approximately the way I had meant it to, but Thorin seemed to understand what I said. 

"You're ticklish?" Without waiting for my answer, he tickled behind my ears. My legs immediately gave way and I crumpled on the floor. The ears weren't sensitive in a ticklish sense, but more in a pleasure sort of way. I wanted desperately to tell Thorin that so that he'd stop, but I was gasping for air because he was also tickling my sides. I was a laughing, gasping mess. Eventually Thorin helped me get up. 

"Ahem, yes. I am ticklish." Dawn, you idiot.

I yawned and Thorin ordered me to go to bed. I ordered him to do the same and completely ignored his orders.

I found Lindir walking down a corridor with a human child trailing behind him. He spotted me. "~Kahlahari, I've been trying to find you. There is someone I want you to meet.~"

The boy hid behind him and peeked timidly around his legs. Lindir gently put his hand on the back of his head, as if to encourage him. "~I'm Estel,~" The boy squeaked. I crouched down to his eye level and extended my hand.  
"~Hello Estel, I am Kahlahari, an old friend of Lindir's.~" He took my hand and tried to shake it, but I pulled him into a hug. He was startled at first but quickly hugged back.

"~Do you want to play tag?~" he asked with a confidence that I hadn't seen in him before. Lindir gave me a pleading look that said he had other things to do. I accepted, but not only because of Lindir's puppy eyes. I had energy left and running around chasing eachother would help me fall asleep sooner and get a good night's rest.

We ran around for the better part of an hour before we came up the hall that lead to the place where the Dwarves resided, judging from the sound coming from the place. "~Not that way, Estel,~" I warned.

He paused and looked between me and the hallway, confused. "~Why not?~"  
"~My friends are in there and I'm supposed to be asleep,~" I grinned. He returned my grin with a hint of mischief. He slowly took a few paces in the direction of the Company quarters. He checked to see if I was still looking before he bolted in the opposite direction with me chasing him. We ended up falling asleep in my room.

When I awoke, Estel was still sleeping, with me embracing him. I got up as carefully as I could and dressed myself in the green dress. Without corset this time. The maids had washed my tunic again. Next time I saw them, I would thank them.

I walked down to the place where the Dwarves resided. Where I found that they had made a large bonfire from broken pieces of furniture.  
"I'll be right back," I said as I went back to get the corset I had worn yesterday. I came back and revealed it to the Dwarves, who laughed when I threw it into the fire.

I sat down infront of it and Kili handed me a roasted sausage that he'd stolen from the kitchens.  
I took it and ate it in two bites and could practicality hear my father scoff with disapproval. Kili looked sort of impressed though.

After some time of chatting, most of the Dwarves were off annoying the Elves somewhere.  
At some point, it was just me with Kili and Fili.  
"Hey, your ears really do move!" remarked Kili. He made to touch the one on his side but I covered both of them with my hands.   
"Please don't touch them."   
"Why? Are they sensitive?"   
I dropped my hands again. "I just- no ear touching."  
"Is it a pleasure area?" Fili hit his brother for his lack of a filter.   
"I don't want to talk about that with you!"

"So, have you talked to him yet?" inquired Fili, changing the subject.   
"To who?"  
"Smaug. Who do you think? Uncle Thorin of course! He was less than happy about your ears when he first saw them," Fili explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. It probably was. The subject hadn't changed in my favour. 

"Oh, that. I don't think any of you were overly exited to see them. I did talk to Thorin. He seems to have come to terms with it." The boys high-fived eachother. "What was that for?" I asked them.  
"Oh nothing. Just that we talked to him as well."  
"About?"  
"No one in particular."

I had my suspicions but just as I was about to threathen them to spill, I saw Estel peek around the corner. I beckoned him over but he shook his head. So I went over to him instead.  
"~Lindir is going to walk by here in about 10 minutes,~" he told me while holding up a vase of water with a wicked grin. He pointed at an open corridor close to the Dwarves' residence.  
"~And I am guessing that you can't get up there by yourself?~" I said with a raised eyebrow.  
He nodded, somewhat ashamed. I took the vase from him with a grin of my own. "~Go be lookout, little fawn,~" I smiled at him as I pulled myself up on the arch. He looked somewhat confused at the nickname I gave him. I didn't mean to, but it just sort of slipped out.

Kili asked me what the fuck I was doing.  
"Taking revenge on Lindir. He made me wear that corset that I threw into the fire."  
"Be my guest."  
"We are his guests, technically."  
"Just go get your revenge, auntie," smiled Fili.  
"I- what?" His comment made nearly fall. I am not related to him in any way. So what it meant remained lost to me. I did get flustered for some reason.

"Nothing, auntie." Had they inserted me into their family as a good friend of your parents? Just like Elrond was to my family. He wasn't really my uncle but he was good friends with my father. Legolas and me just sort of concluded that family didn't necessarily mean related. Just those you love enough to call them family. 

After, indeed, ten minutes, Estel dragged Lindir down the hall. Fili and Kili had reluctantly left when Bofur came to get them. Estel kept eyeing me with a grin. He was lucky that Lindir wasn't very observant, because otherwise he would have given me away.

When they were under the beam I was on, Estel bolted and I emptied the vase over Lindir's head.  
He looked up with a glare. "~That was for making me wear a corset,~" I laughed.  
He jumped up to get me, I jumped down to avoid being caught. I bunched the front of my dress up into my arms and let him chase me all the way down to the fountain, where I halted in my tracks.

The Dwarves were all in it, naked, for as far as I could tell. I stood rooted to the spot, still holding my dress up to my knees. I wanted to look away but I couldn't.  
They were very muscular, I noted as I saw some of them wrestle. I mean, I wasn't dainty myself, but these guys were ripped. I felt like my face was on fire. A little farther down I was having a feeling too. A knot in my underbelly that I couldn't place.

Lindir finally caught up to me, still dripping wet. He grabbed me and slung me over his shoulder before he noticed the Dwarves too and stopped dead his tracks. He had moved us closer to the fountain in his intention to throw me in.

"~We are even now, there is no need to throw me in with them,~" I warned Lindir. He didn't do anything. "~Lindir, if you throw me in there, I swear on Thranduil's crown, you will regret it.~"  
He put me down and fled the scene without a word. His drenched clothes left the front of mine clinging to my stomach and chest, pulling them apart didn't help.

I kind of wanted to get in myself and show off my muscles. But they paled in comparison to theirs. Also they were buck-ass nude, so that might not be a very good decision.

"Like what you see, Dawn?" Kili said while flexing. I saw that they weren't completely naked. Some part of me felt let down at that. The more sensible part of me however, felt relieved.  
"I don't know," I yelled back, before hiding my face and nope-ing the fuck out of of there. I almost told him he was blocking the view, as he was dramatically posing infront of Thorin, who seemed to dive behind the person standing closest to him. I decided that was an idiotic thing to say. So was what I actually said could have been worse.

Dinner was very awkward, and I didn't say much, but Fili and Kili seemed to be on fire, throwing flirty and downright filthy comments at me. Even some of the others joined in. I pulled my ears and laid my face on the table as to not show them how red my face was. Gloin's telling them to "Leave the poor lass alone," fell on deaf ears. 

When I got back to my room, Estel was waiting for me again. I told him stories about being a wizard. Eventually he left to go to bed. I realised I was pretty tired too and took off my dress and got under the covers.

-~-

Thorin gently woke me up. I told him to fuck off and let me sleep.   
"Get dressed, we're leaving," he grumbled, before he walked off. I quickly did as he told. When he was gone I realised I was wearing only a band around my chest to keep my sword's reach reasonable. Well, it was dark. I sincerely hoped he hadn't seen anything.

I quickly pulled on my clothing and hopped out the room on one foot pulling my boot on the other. I ran to the place where the dwarves resided while sloppily braiding my hair. The moon hadn't even begun sinking yet. That was quite the quick visit.

"What took you so long?" Thorin grumbled.   
"I just woke up. I didn't take that long did I?" I heaved, very out of breath.  
No one mentioned the fact I saw them all naked anymore. Which is a good thing, because I don't I could handle another round of conversations about that without my nose bleeding and my ears lighting themselves on fire. Fili and Kili did still smirk and wink at me. That stopped for a while when I pulled a dagger from somewhere and made a cutting motion across my throat.

Thorin led us to a trail that left Rivendell behind. "Are we going to leave without Gandalf?" I asked him, fastening my pace to catch up to him. "You are a wizard as well, we will meet him later, in the mountains."  
"Last time we went without him for more than a couple of hours we were almost eaten by Trolls," I argued.  
"My decision is final. It's part of a plan," he explained. I nodded before stopping to look back on Rivendell.  
"Be on your guard; we're about to step over the edge into the wild," Thorin warned us. "Balin, you know these paths, lead on."  
"Aye."

I saw Bilbo look behind him at Rivendell as well and walked up to him.   
"I'm going to miss this place," he told me.   
"I am sure you will see it again some day," I comforted him.  
"Master Baggins, Dawn, I suggest you two keep up," Thorin called over his shoulder.   
"Come on, don't want be left behind," I beckoned Bilbo to follow me and make up the rear of the company. He shot one last look to Rivendell and trudged up next to me.  
"Your hood is down," he commented. I gave him a look. "It looks nice," he defended himself. "Makes your eyes, uh, visible."   
I giggled at that. "I think I'll keep it down for a bit, now that everyone knows I'm Elvish."  
"You should."

-~-

The next days were relatively uneventful. The Misty Mountains loomed ever closer. Kili and I went hunting together one afternoon when we made camp.

"So... uncle Thorin, eh?" he asked with a smirk.  
"Uh, what?" I asked, slightly confused, my nearly permanent blush reaching up to my ears again.  
"Oh, come on! I saw you trying to look past me. The only ones who can't feel the tension are the two of you. You even argue like an old married couple."  
"Only because he starts it!" I huffed.  
Kili looked amused at my furiously blushing face. "You're quite scary when you're angry. He's either into that, or he feels like he is being threatened by a kitten."  
My blush grew stronger. "I am taller than he is."

"Whatever you say, auntie. Just know that I know that you didn't tell Thorin what meaning caressing ears holds," he teased.  
"I- what? He- he wasn't caressing them! He was tickling me!" 

He laughed and I whacked him with my bow. We managed to kill a doe and hauled it back to camp where Bombur busied himself with making it roast ready. Bombur gave me the arrow he recovered and Kili and I sparred over who would get to stuff it down their quiver. He got it, because he used the trick that I'd used on Thorin by stealing the dagger from my thigh and spinning me around. He used the same threat and everything.

"Oh no! I have been defeated! By the great Kili of Durin! Aaaah!" I dramatically dropped to the ground, taking him down with me.  
"No need to make such a fuss about it," Kili said in a small voice.

We went to sleep with full bellies and plenty of food left for on the road. Thorin decided that we didn't need to have big stops that last a full day until the food ran out. That tired me out quickly. That and the fact that Fili and Kili now flirted with me on Thorin's behalf, without his knowledge of course. The endless comments on my ass never ceased to both annoy me and make me blush. The boys loved it. I once tried to defend myself by commenting on their asses but that didn't go so well. They also refused to call me by my name when Thorin wasn't within earshot, referring to me by auntie instead. In those moments I wished the ground would swallow me up. After a while I just gave up and accepted my new role as their aunt. Started calling them my nephews too. But only when Thorin was somewhere else.


	12. I eat Thorin alive.

I pulled my hood lower over my head, but it was of no use. The rain on the Misty Mountains was cold and fell down hard.  
"Hold on!" Thorin encouraged us. We were half-drowned by now and even I couldn't see more than a couple yards ahead of us.

I did manage to see as the stone beneath Bilbo's feet crumbled away. He would have fallen to his death if Balin hadn't caught him by his collar.  
"Dawn!" yelled Fili above the rain. "Can't you magic this storm away?"  
"I am a healer! I don't control the weather! I have told you before!" I called back.  
"We must find shelter!" bellowed Thorin.  
"You think?" I yelled.

"Look out!" Dwalin pointed somewhere in the distance. My eyes widened as I saw that he was pointing at a builder the size of a small house that was hurtling towards us. 

Fast.

It landed on the mountain wall above us. We braced ourselves as rocks came raining down. When the rocks stopped falling Balin stepped forward pointed at a point in the distance again.  
"This is no thunderstorm! It's a thunder battle! Look!"  
Lightning blasted and illuminated a massive Stone Giant ripping a chunk of rock from another mountain.  
"Well, bless me! The legends are true! Giants; Stone Giants!" Bofur yelled excitedly.

I was less than thrilled when the giant threw the the rock away. It hit another giant on our other side. It reared up and grabbed a mountain as as well.  
All we could do was watch, stuck in the middle.   
"Take cover! You'll fall!" yelled Thorin. We didn't get much time to take cover however. Debris began to fall over us and we braced ourselves against the mountain again. Suddenly, the ground beneath my feet cracked and separated. I Jumped aside and someone caught me, I'm not sure who. I did thank him. The company was separated as a third Stone Giant rose slowly.

"How many of these fuckers are there?" I yelled in frustration.   
"Kili! Grab my hand! Kili!" screamed Fili. The gap grew ever wider. One of the Stone Giants headbutted the one with a part of the company on it, making it fall over backwards. Thorin, Oin, Gloin and Kili managed to jump to our side of the mountain, which wasn't moving, thankfully.

I had thought it was over too soon. A rock slide fell upon us. It carried me over the edge. I managed to grab onto something but I couldn't climb back up again. The rock was slippery with the rain and it's jagged edges cut into my fingers.  
I saw Bilbo slide down above me.  
"Bilbo!" I screamed. I tried to get voice to carry over the sounds of the clashing stone giants so I would catch his attention. 

I let go of the ledge with one hand to catch him.  
I did, luckily, but my other hand was now trying to support both our weights and it started to slip away.  
I looked up to see the company trying to reach us. I clawed with my feet trying to get some foothold. When I did I tried to boost Bilbo up. It wasn't enough.

"You must climb me," I ordered him.  
"What?" Maybe he had misheard me.  
"Climb me! That is about the only route with grip!" I yelled.  
I guided him in where to place his hands and feet until he was standing on my shoulders, where the company could hoist him up.  
I tried to climb up but I couldn't.  
"I can't do it!" I yelled at them.  
"We are not leaving without you!" Fili screamed.  
"I wasn't suggesting that."

When I began to slip away, I felt myself being boosted up. I stretched out my hands and got hoisted up by Bifur and Kili.  
The Dwarves celebrated by cheering while Bilbo and I were looking at eachother, trying to control our erratic breathing.  
"I thought we'd lost our Elf and burglar," said Dwalin with a rare smile.

"He's been lost ever since he left home. He should never have come. He has no place amongst us," said Thorin, who was probably the one to boost me up, as he stood a short distance away from the rest of us, slightly out of breath. "Now, we must find shelter."  
The Dwarves nodded and started following Thorin.

"Now, just you hold up Oakenshield!" I he probably got startled really badly, but I still was not okay with him chewing Bilbo out like that, and was planning on making that known to him. He may have saved me from certain death, but I was going to defend my friend until the end of the line.  
"Bilbo is just as essential to this quest as you are, your majesty!" I spat the title like it left a bad taste in my mouth. "If it wasn't for Bilbo, we'd all be eaten by Trolls. None of us were smart enough to think of playing for time! Besides, if there's place for me, there's place for him too." I stood protectively infront of Bilbo who still sat on the rock. I gave Thorin my best death stare as I helped Bilbo up and ignored Thorin completely as we strode past him.

"Thanks for that," Bilbo murmured. "Now he hates both of us."  
"I could care less about what he thinks of me, one does not simply speak to or about my friends that way." I didn't bother keeping my voice down. "Are you hurt?" I asked him, changing the subject. "I can heal you once we find shelter."  
He brushed me away, saying he was fine.

When we finally found a cave, I was exhausted and drenched to the bone. My cloak hadn't done anything to keep the rain out and I was shivering.  
"It looks safe enough," said Dwalin.  
"Search to the back; caves in the mountains are seldom unoccupied," ordered Thorin.  
Dwalin went in, and after a moment that took me too long, he came back.  
"There's nothing here," he said.  
We all shuffled in. I found a nice level legde a bit to back of the cave and plopped down.

I wrung out my hair and lot of water came out. "Holy shit," laughed Fili.  
"Have you seen the weather outside? That amount of water could drown you if you don't watch it," I defended. Dwalin's hair and beard were probably carrying even more water.   
"Right then! Let's get a fire started," Gloin said, rubbing his hands together after he'd dropped a bundle of wood.

"No. No fires. Not in this place. Get some sleep, we start at first light," said Thorin.  
"We were to wait in the mountains until Gandalf joined us. That was the plan!" I snapped at him, still shivering.  
"Plans change," Thorin turned to Fili. "Take the first watch."  
I groaned in frustration. I tend to do that a lot around Thorin as of late.

-~-

I woke up to soft footsteps and the rustling of leather.  
"Where do you think you're going?" I heard Fili's tired voice ask.  
"Back to Rivendell." It was Bilbo.  
"No, no, you can't turn back now. You're part of the Company. You're one of us."  
Fili wanted him to stay and so did I. But I couldn't find a way to tell him, so I stayed quiet and listened in on their conversation.

"I'm not though, am I? Thorin said I should never have come, and he was right."  
"Dawn ate Thorin alive for what he said."  
"I'm a not a Took, I'm a Baggins, I don't know what I was thinking. I should have never ran out my door."   
"You're homesick; I understand." Fili's voice was compassionate and pained.

"No, you don't. You don't understand, none of you do. You're Dwarves! You're used to this life, to living on the road, never settling in one place, not belonging anywhere." He sounded harsh, I was almost going to say something about it when Bilbo apologised.  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" He stopped, Fili had stopped him.  
"No, you're right, we don't belong anywhere." His voice sounded hurt. "I wish you all the luck in the world. I really do."  
I heard Bilbo turn on his heel and walk off, untill Fili stopped him.  
"What's that?" he asked. Then I saw a blue glow fill the cave.

Goblins.


	13. We casually overthrow a government.

The ground began shaking and making strange noises. Thorin and I jumped up at the same time. "Wake up!" we screamed.

That was weird. I didn't like it. Let's never do that again.

Before any of us could run out of the cave screaming bloody murder, the floor collapsed and we fell.  
The falling could not keep us from screaming bloody murder though.  
We slid down a seemingly endless tunnel, with others ending in the one we were in. The fall was very long. About half way I resorted to just looking very scared, because I'd run out of breath for screaming.  
We landed hard in a wooden cage. I heard the distinctive sound of one of my bones breaking, but I didn't know where, as everything hurt. As we struggled to get up I realised that it must be my arm, because I couldn't move my hand.

We didn't have more than ten seconds to rise as a horde of Goblins began to attack us. They dragged us away. We tried to fight back, but they were with too many. I managed to kill one by kicking it over the ledge, but that earned me a fist to the face and in turn a bloody nose.

We were dragged over precarious bridges as thousands of Goblins watched us with snarling faces. I looked around for a way out, but could find none.  
We finally stopped at what seemed to be the throne- well, platform is the best way to describe it. In front of us was the largest and most disgusting looking Goblin I had ever seen. He was singing a song that I didn't listen to. I was looking around everywhere for an escape route. The entire place was fairly well lit but I doubt that the walls of this chamber were the outside walls of the mountain.

Goblins everywhere were ramming on makeshift instruments. The place in general was too loud for me. I pulled my hood very low over my face with my good hand in an effort to drown out most of the background noise. It didn't really help at all but I didn't let go of the hood.   
What I did notice is that during his song, he forked one of his people on the end of his spear and threw him away. I always knew Goblins were ruled by the biggest and the scariest, possibly the loudest, and that good kings were hard to come by, but seeing it up close was something else. 

The Goblins ripped the weapons they could easily see off us and threw them on a pile. They took my bow, my sword and the few arrows I had left. It was a rare well timed stroke of luck that they saw no daggers. It was balanced by the bad luck that was being surrounded by thousands of Goblins with no way out. 

The large Goblin spoke with a tone that told us our presence was very amusing to him. "Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom?" 

This was a game to him. Of course it was.

"Dwarves, your malevolence," reported a Goblin. He was not entirely wrong, but I couldn't help feeling a bit offended. I'd make a fairly lousy Dwarf. I didn't have a long bushy beard and my laughter wasn't infectious or thunderously loud for a start. I wasn't so sure what race other than Goblin would have a diplomatic advantage here, but I was guessing none of us fit the bill.

"Dwarves?" the king asked.  
"We found them on the front porch."   
It was a game to all of them, great.  
"Well, don't just stand there! Search them! Every crack, every crevice."  
The Goblins rushed forward. They emptied every sack we had on us and, among other things, found an Elvish candle stick.  
"Made in Rivendell." The Goblin king apparantly had trouble reading it. My question was: why did they sign it in the common tongue? 

When they'd found three of my daggers and thrown them on a pile with the other weapons, the Goblins realised something.

"This one's a woman!" one of them whisteled loudly, looking right at my chest without the slightest hint of shame. There wasn't even much to look at. I was quite racked for an Elf but I'd hidden them as well as I could. Even so I felt my face contort in fear. There was little I could do against a whole kingdom of Goblins with a broken arm. All the Goblins who were searching the others turned to me. They ripped off my cloak and pushed me forward, closer to their king. When they were satisfied with my lack of distance to him they went back to searching the Dwarves, all of whom had tried to rush to my aid as I struggled to get away.   
One of the Goblins pinched my butt before he left. That one I stabbed in the head with a dagger they'd missed, it was quickly taken from me and thrown on the pile.

"Well well well," the Goblin King sounded satisfied, "what brings princess Kahlahari the Green to my humble kingdom." He mocked a bow. "Oh, wait, you're not a princess anymore, or a Wizard, easy mistake."  
I'm not Kahlahari anymore either, whoops. 

Instead of answering him, I spat on the ground before his feet.  
"Feisty," he commented.  
"~You disgust me,~" I growled at him. I lunged at him with another dagger. I had a ton of those hidden on my person. But before I reached him I was pulled back at questionable locations by at least five Goblins. I yelled in pain when they roughly pulled on my broken arm. That dagger was also taken.

"Someone she hates more than you," I heard Dwalin chuckle. How he managed to be amused by the situation was beyond me.  
"What are you doing in these parts?" the Goblin king asked me, assuming falsely that I was the head of the Company.

I glared at him, not saying a word. If my hair wasn't tied I would have magiced a bit of wind to blow on it and dramatize the shadows on my face. If you're not big you should at least be intimidating when handling situations like this one. 

"I'll handle this lads," said Oin.  
"No tricks! I want the truth!" the Goblin demanded.  
The Goblin King had barely finished his sentence before Oin interrupted him. "You're going to have to speak up. Your boys flattened me trumpet." He held up his flattened hearing aid as proof. 

"I'll flatten more than your trumpet!" the king roared. I was starting to see the humour in this. Only when it wasn't directed at me or my feminine features.

The next to step forward was Bofur. "If it's true information you want, I'm the one you should speak to."  
The Goblin king hummed as indication that he should go on.  
Bofur took a deep breath and fired away. "We were on the road. Well, it's not so much a road as a path. Actually, it's not even that come to think of it. It's more like a track. Anyway, the point is: we were on this road, like a path, like a track, and then we weren't. Which is a problem, because were supposed to in Dunland last Tuesday."

I had to suppress a laugh. It really was amusing to fuck with Goblins. 

"Visiting distant relations," Dori continued the story.  
"Besides-" Bofur tried again, but he got interrupted by a screaming Goblin King.  
"Shut up!" He dragged out both words.  
He grinned. "Very well, if they won't talk. We'll make them squawk," he rhymed. Just when I thought I couldn't hate him more.

We were talking. Quite a lot.

"Bring out the Mangler, bring out the Bone Breaker. Start with the youngest." He pointed at Ori with a dismissive, almost disinterested gesture. 

Fun was over.

I was ready to fly at him again with my last dagger but Thorin interrupted me by quickly stepping forward. "Wait!"  
"Well, well, well, look who it is! Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror. King under the mountain." The Goblin mocked Thorin with a bow as well.

Don't repeat your own jokes. We saw it. We didn't laugh. It's not funny.

"Oh, but I'm forgetting, you don't have a mountain, and you're not a king, which makes you nobody, really. But I know someone who will pay a pretty price for your head. Just the head, nothing attached. Perhaps you know of whom I speak. A vengeful enemy of yours."

Can't it ever be an old friend? 

Thorin looked at the Great Goblin in disbelief. "Azog the Defiler?" he asked.

That's the pale Orc that had sworn to kill Thorin's family. What business did he have being alive? 

The Dwarves had shocked expressions on their faces. The Goblin King chuckled. "Send word to Azog the Defiler. Tell him, I have found his prize," he ordered a tiny scribe that was sat in a basket.  
The tiny Goblin began scribbling before he pulled on a lever and the basket sailed off into the cavern. It would've looked funny out of context.

I sure hope Azog was far away from this place, that would give us a breather.

More Goblins came onto the platform, carrying all sorts of painful-looking torture devices. The pain from my broken arm hit me again suddenly. I closed my eyes and chanted the healing spell for broken bones under my breath. I managed to suppress a scream at the sudden pain of bone growing and mending back in place. What came out instead was a whimper, and I didn't like way the Goblins looked at me after.

All the while, the Goblin King was jumping around singing a song that made me flinch every time he landed. He wasn't what you would call light on his feet. 

"Bones will be broken, necks will be wrung!   
You'll be beaten and battered, from racks you'll be hung!   
You'll die down here and never be found, down in the deep of Goblin town!"

This song about our impending deaths and the lack of escape routes, didn't really help numb the sick, panicky feeling that was welling up in my stomach.  
And the smell of the place wasn't helping much either, sweet mother of Sauron.

I heard a Goblin screech and a weapon clang. The Goblin King gasped on his throne. "I know that sword! It is the Goblin Cleaver! The Biter! The blade that sliced a thousand necks!"

Ah, they'd unsheathed Orcrist.

The King looked at us furiously. "Slash them! Beat them! Kill them!" He pointed at Thorin with a shaking hand. "Cut off his head!"

Like hell I was going to let that happen!

While the Goblins grabbed Thorin, I raced forward and grabbed a sword from the pile. I turned fast on the spot to build up the power that I lacked regularly, and hacked one of the Goblins' heads clean off.

Good, I'd grabbed Orcrist. 

"Who's next?" I growled at the rest.  
Thorin looked at me with an expression I couldn't quite read and didn't have time to decipher, so let's call it admiration.  
Before I could decapitate the next goblin, there was an explosion of white light. It sent Goblins and torture tools flying. The Dwarves and me were knocked to the ground.   
Dwarves and Goblins alike slowly recovered. All eyes turned to see Gandalf the Grey.

"Wizard's timing," I muttered, grabbing my weapons from the pile and tossing Orcrist to Thorin.   
"Take up arms! Fight! Fight!" yelled Gandalf.  
While the Dwarves got their weapons, Gandalf and I fought to keep the horde at bay. "Took you long enough!" I told him off.  
"You should have waited for me."  
"We didn't know that cave was a Goblin tunnel! The rain had washed away any scent but wet sand."

The Goblin king shrieked something about Gandalf's sword but I didn't listen. I saw the Goblin raising his skull-adorned mace above Kili's head. I jumped to intervene. So did Thorin. We deflected the blow of the mace together and sent the Goblin King falling off the platform backwards. The king was screaming like a coward during his fall.

"Follow me! Quick!" Gandalf yelled and ran, we ran after him, Thorin and me making up the rear.  
Hordes of Goblins chased after us. One of them managed to get hold of my braid. I let out a surprised yelp and fell over backwards.  
In the heat of the moment, I sliced off my hair in a single smooth movement, got up and ran back to the company.  
They had grabbed a large wooden pole and used it to push incoming Goblins out of the way.  
I knocked one off a bridge and he let out a funny sounding scream as he tumbled into the depths. 

I looked over at Thorin and was momentarily stunned by the grace with which he fought, it was almost Elflike.  
To mask the fact that I was staring at him, I shot two Goblins with a single arrow behind him and ran on.  
At one point, Gandalf made a piece of rock fall from the ceiling and we used that to get rid of the Goblins in front of us.  
I sliced Goblins left and right. My now shorter hair wasn't tied back anymore and I got annoyed to no end by it falling over my face all the time.

We ran over a bridge to what looked like an exit, but got stopped by the Goblin King breaking out from under it.   
"You thought you could escape. What are you going to do now, wizard?" he teased.  
That was it, I had had my fill of this guy.  
I fumed with rage as I pushed my sword into Thorin's hands and grabbed my last dagger. I jumped and did a spin in mid air, throwing the dagger straight in between the giant Goblin's eyes. It sunk in until the hilt and black blood seeped out.  
I landed in a crouched position and straightened. "That is feisty," I spat at him while pushing my hair out of face.

"That'll do it." 

"Good, move," I growled.  
As if on que, the bridge collapsed. The part with us on it, not even the part with the Goblin king. We soared downwards, smashed into a lot of wooden structures, hopefully taking out a few more Goblins on the way. We were still falling, the narrowing tunnel breaking both the bridge and our fall.  
We finally landed in a large pile of wooden debris. We all let a groan of discomfort. I saw the falling corpse of the dead king and clambered out the wreckage as quickly as I could.  
"Well, that, could've been worse," commented Bofur.  
I made it out just in time to say "Knock on wood," as the body landed heavily on the company, earning another groan from all of them. 

I laughed at my own joke (you can only do that with puns) before looking up. Now I saw a wave of Goblins climbing down. "Get up, we aren't done yet!" I yelled as I helped pull Kili out.  
Once everyone was out, we ran into the tunnels, finally finding open air. We ran into a clearing at the foot of the mountain.

I breathed heavily and sat down.  
"What in Mahal's name have you done to your hair?!" exclaimed Kili, who was staring at it in shock.  
"Figured it was time for a change," I shrugged, blowing a strand out of my eyes. After two tries, it still didn't work and I gave up. My hair now fell in waves around my shoulders and it was longer on one side than the other.

"Why did you cut it off?"  
"A Goblin grabbed it and got ready to behead me."  
"Then be beheaded with pride."  
I rolled my eyes at Kili's back as he walked off to find Fili.

I heard someone clear their throat behind me and I turned to look. It was Thorin. "Here is your uh, sword back." He held it out to me and I thanked him as I took it. There was a blush on his face for a change. I smirked slightly at that fact. 

"Turns out I can wield your one handed sword with two hands well enough."

Yes, I am still on about that. 

Thorin looked ready to say something but got cut off by Gandalf. "Where is Bilbo?" I looked around to see that indeed, Bilbo wasn't there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thorin? Likes dangerous women with big ass swords? Hell ye.


	14. You have a lot of nerve being alive.

"Curse the Halfling, now he's lost?"

"I thought he was with Kili!"

"Don't blame me!"

"Well, where did you last see him?" 

"I think I saw him slip away when they first cornered us."

I heard something move on the edge of the clearing, I crept over to investigate.  
"What happened exactly? tell me!" Gandalf sounded almost panicked.  
"I'll tell you what happened," started Thorin. I didn't like this already. "Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it. He's thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since we first stepped out his door. We will not be seeing our Hobbit again. He is long gone."

I whipped around from the tree where I was standing, fuming with anger again. "How dare you say that?" My voice was calm, but there was a fire concealed within. "What if he died down there? He might be dead and you're here damaging his memory by making him out to be a deserter." My voice cracked and tears escaped my eyes. I had nothing to say to Thorin anymore.

"No he isn't, I'm not gone." 

I turned at the voice. "Bilbo!" I ran up to him and enveloped him in my arms. I didn't say anything more. I only had to run about two paces because appeared from the tree behind me.

"Bilbo Baggins! I've never been so glad to see anyone on my life," Gandalf's voice was filled with relief.  
"Bilbo! We'd given you up!" 

"How on Earth did you get past those Goblins?"

"How indeed?" The Dwarves were shocked, but pleased all the same and so was I. I let Bilbo go and backed away. Bilbo gave a nervous laugh and slipped something in his pocket.  
"What does it matter? He's back!" Gandalf dismissed the question for Bilbo.

"It matters. I want to know. Why did you come back?" asked Thorin. I was about to yell at him again, but as I drew a breath to do so, Bilbo shushed me by putting his finger on my lips.

"Look, I know you doubt me. I know you always have. And you're right. I often think of Bag End. I miss my books, and my armchair, my garden. See, that's where I belong. That's home. And you don't have one, a home. Not even Dawn. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can." I was impressed, as was Gandalf. We gave our friend a warm smile. The Dwarves were taken aback, as if it only now dawned on them that Bilbo cared. It dawned on me that Thorin didn't question my place in the Company, at least not when I was there. He didn't even threathen to throw me out when he first learned of my Elvishness, he did threathen to leave me behind, but not specifically to send me home. Not that I had one...  
Thorin only once seemed to distrust me. If he didn't question me to my face, why did he question Bilbo to his?

I heard something in the distance, coming our way. Then I heard Black speech and knew that we were neck-deep in a fucked situation again.  
"Guys-" I was interrupted by the howl of a Warg. That got my point across better than I could have done it. Thorin looked to Gandalf, fear in his eyes.

"Out of the frying pan-"

"And into the fire," Gandalf finished the expression. "Run. Run."

We wheeled around and ran down the mountain side with the Orcs hot on our tails. I led the company, Gandalf close behind me, the Dwarves were a few yards behind us.  
We ran until we reached a cliff face, where a few riderless Wargs had caught up to us.

They swarmed us. One sprang to my face and knocked me on my back. Usually I loved dogs jumping up at me and licking my face. Getting knocked down is an acceptable vice. But this dog wasn't jumping up because he wanted to be scratched behind his ears. This one wanted to eat my face.  
I stabbed it the throat with my sword. It's blood splattered over my shirt. I wasn't quick enough to get out and the dead Warg collapsed on top of me. I tried to push it off but found that it was too heavy.

I didn't give up and eventually, with some help from Thorin and Bifur, I could finally get up.  
More Wargs came our way and we ran on. But after a few paces we reached the edge of the cliff.  
"Climb! Climb the trees!" Gandalf yelled. I jumped to the lowest branch of the tree closest to the edge, and helped everyone that had also chosen this one up. Once everyone was up, I climbed a few branches higher. Just in time too, because the Wargs started jumping at the trees and snapping their jaws around the area I'd just been a few seconds ago.  
We were only just settled when a pale Orc strode up on a rock that overlooked the bit of cliff where we were.

It was Azog, according to Thorin. I didn't doubt it. I had never seen Azog before. Balin's tales didn't describe how truly terrifying he really was.  
Another tiny detail they failed to mention was that he had a fucking sword for a hand!

If I ever lose an arm, I want to replace with a sword. But a shiny Elvish one, not a jagged Orcish contraption that I can't lift.  
Then again, maybe not. I think I'll try and keep my arm.

Gandalf was struck with an idea. He lit a pinecone on fire with his staff and threw it down at the wargs.  
I could do that too, I knew a fire spell. It wasn't very powerful, but enough to light a pinecone on fire, surely.  
I started chanting it, because it was not powerful, it wasn't very long either. And the pine cone I was holding quickly caught fire. I threw it down as well. Gandalf had been spreading the cones down to the Dwarves and Bilbo, who were using them to light others and rained them down on the Wargs.

Azog yelled in rage as his fellow Orcs and Wargs fled the scene. We cheered in victory.  
We were too early in our celebration however, as the fire around us had made the roots of the trees weak. With a crack ours fell over, it didn't fall down entirely, but it made us hang on for dear life.

My stomach dropped as Ori fell. He latched onto Oin's boot, but he too wasn't hanging on too well.

Then Thorin decided to do the single most stupid thing he possibly could.  
He got out of the tree and walked straight to Azog. 

It was stupid in many ways. It didn't give anyone an escape route, because there were too many Wargs and Orcs to fill in for a few missing ones. It wasn't going to kill Azog, because he was well-protected. It didn't buy us time to escape, because we had nowhere to go and judging by the drawn sword in his hand, he wasn't going to negotiate our safe release either. 

Even Azog was dumbfounded. He looked surprised at first. But a moment later grinned maliciously. This was not going to end well.  
"Thorin, what the fuck are you doing!?" I yelled at him. He didn't even look back.

He grabbed a broken piece of an oak trunk and used it as a shield as he charged alone through the burning landscape.  
You're a sentimental fool, Thorin. I can't believe I of all people am saying this, but pick your battles and know when it's hopeless. 

Azog welcomed him with a smirk and open arms. He and his huge white Warg jumped over Thorin, dealing him a blow to the head, which made him fall over.

Bofur was next to fall out of the tree. He caught Ori's boot, the force of which made Oin slip lower off Gandalf's staff, which he had switched to. He was barely holding on and whinced in effort.

Azog turned his Warg back to Thorin, who was struggling to get back up. Azog charged again. Hitting Thorin in the head with his mace. He fell back down.  
"No!" I screamed. My voice was unnaturally high. A tear streamed down my cheek. Why was my reaction so emotional, I didn't understand it. My conversation with Kili some time back sprung to mind. It couldn't be true, could it?

The white Warg grabbed and bit Thorin and I could hear him scream in pain.  
Bilbo looked at me and I caught his gaze. He looked from my bow to me and then jerked his head to Azog, whose back was turned to us.  
He climbed up the trunk and slipped into the shadows.  
Then it struck me, he wanted me to cause a diversion.

I climbed onto the trunk and stood there. I grabbed and loaded my bow.

I'm gonna kill him. That ought to make for a good diversion.

Watch out, Thorin. A bigger dumbass is entering the ring. 

There wasn't any chance I could kill either the Warg or Azog from this position, but I could certainly distract either by shooting them.

Thorin cut the Warg in the face with Orcrist. The Warg flung him away, where he lay motionless.

Azog said something I couldn't understand. My guess was something along the lines of "bring me his head."  
His subordinate jumped of his Warg and walked up to Thorin. While he really dragged out Thorin's decapitation, I shot Azog in the shoulder. He turned around and saw me walking up to him, loading my bow again, fury abundantly clear on my face.

I shot again, and hit his shoulder again. The combination of fear and rage made my hands tremble and my accuracy plummet.  
Azog didn't even have the decency to drop dead, or even to scream in pain. He just smirked at me and said something I did understand.

"Look at her. Young and innocent. And weak. Kill her too," he was mocking me, and I wasn't having any of it. I was at least ten times as old as he was, perhaps even fifteen.  
"You'll have to catch me first, ~Orc-scum~," I hissed as I shot the Warg in it's shoulder, which removed a bit of power my statement. I was quite a bit annoyed at that. At least the Warg did have the decency to cry out and lick his wound before Azog rectified him. His smirk grew even wider.

In the background, I saw Bilbo tackle the Orc who was about to decapitate Thorin. The Orc was distracted by my firing at Azog. As anyone would be, because it was a stupid thing to do, really.

Bilbo killed the Orc after a struggle, the sound of his outcries made Azog turn away from me again.  
He ordered his men to kill Bilbo, at least that is what I made of it. I'd never bothered to learn Black Speech, as it had no spells I found myself having any business in knowing.

Three Warg riders shot forward. I shot one of the Warg's heads while I had been trying to aim for the throat of another. Why I was accurate at times that it didn't truly matter, and sucked absolute cock when we were in an actual life threatening situation if I missed was a mystery to me.

Bilbo waved his sword around with courage, defending Thorin's still body. The Wargs crept closer to him, snarling and growling all the while. If I could only get near enough, I could heal Thorin's wounds before it was too late.

Suddenly I could hear all too well known battlecries behind me. I jerked my head around to see those of the Company who weren't hanging on for dear life charge up behind me.  
I let out a battlecry of my own and led the assault, putting my bow away and drawing my sword.

We fought the Warg Riders, and the riderless Wargs that I hadn't noticed before.  
We were also losing, very badly. The battle was not fair. We were overrun by Wargs and Orcs. Azog himself didn't even move a finger. And he didn't let us get close to him either. Or to Thorin.

I don't know where it came from, but an eagle swooped into view. Not a small one either. No, this was a Great Eagle. The Great, of course, referring to its size. The bird was carrying Oin, Ori and Bofur on its back.  
An entire flock of Eagles suddenly appeared, they grabbed Wargs and threw them off the cliff. Azog yelled in rage again.

Then the Eagles grabbed us. I heard Azog let out the loudest yell yet as we flew away from the burning cliff.  
The Eagle that had grabbed me none too carefully dropped me on the back of one of the others. From here I could see the still motionless Thorin dangling from the talons of the leader of the flock.

It was giving me severe anxiety as I couldn't do anything yet. And when I could, it might already be too late.  
We flew until past sunrise, when the Eagles deposited us on a high tower of rock.

I thanked the Eagles in their language, saying something about strong wind under their wings or something. They said something in return, but a very polite 'thank you' was the only phrase I knew so I couldn't understand. They probably said something along the lines of "Your accent is terrible!" But it sounded like well... eagle sounds.  
From the looks I got, I gathered that I sounded like that too.

I turned and ran to Thorin's ever motionless body. Tears were threatening to spill again. I chanted every healing spell I even remotely knew of. Thorin still lay motionless.  
"Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead. Wake up!" I begged him. Still nothing.  
I calmed my breathing and tried again, slower this time, only repeating the ones that effected the areas with priority over the rest. Like the giant bite wound over his chest. It had mostly closed by the time I got to it but every little bit helped.

He wasn't breathing though.

It was too late.

I buried my face in my arms on his chest and started crying. More than one would normally do when someone they knew died.  
Suddenly I felt a hand on my back, comforting me. I looked up and behind me to see that it was Thorin's. 

Delayed healing! I hate it when that happens. Breathe when I tell you to damn it!

My crying turned into happy-crying. "Get up, you've been asleep for long enough," I choked out.

"Where is Bilbo?" he whispered hoarsely.  
"He is alright. He is right here," I said as he carefully pressed his forehead to mine.  
Dwalin and Kili helped him up. I rose as well.  
"You!" Thorin turned to Bilbo. He sounded stern but not harsh. "What were you doing? You nearly got yourself killed."  
I think he tried to thank Bilbo. In his own boorish way.

"Did I not say you would be a burden?"  
Okay, never mind.

"Thorin..." I warned him, my voice still weak. If he heard me, he didn't let it show.

"That you would not survive in the wild? That you had no place amongst us?"  
"Thorin!" I said louder. He definetly heard me now, but still chose to ignore me.  
"I have never been so wrong, in all my life," he said as he crushed Bilbo in a bearhug.

After a while, he looked past Bilbo, and let him go. Bilbo looked behind him as well.  
"Is that what I think it is?" I heard Bilbo ask. I turned my head to look and saw the Lonely Mountain, gleaming in the light of dawn. I was humbled by the sheer beauty of the view.

"Erebor, the Lonely Mountain, the last of the great Dwarf kingdoms of Middle Earth," Gandalf explained dramatically.  
"Our home," Thorin sounded almost emotional.  
"It is beautiful," I commented, walking up next to him.  
"You haven't seen the inside yet, *amrâlimê.*"  
I looked at him, confused. "What does that mean? *Amrâlimê?*" I probably butchered the pronunciation. He chuckled but didn't answer me.  
I looked back at the mountain, then at the edge of the cliff.

"Uh, guys? How are we going to get down?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that is An Unexpected Journey closed. Onward to the Desolation Of Smaug.


	15. Following Gandalf's orders correctly is for Elves! Oh wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna post more chapters just because I can. Be warned: there is awkward intimacy here because of cultural barriers. Is that Thorin/ thrope representative of this chapter?
> 
> Yes. I do not apologise.

"Dawn, your hair still looks terrible," Kili commented as he stood on the creek bank next to where I sat on my knees.  
"I'm working on it!" I said as I leaned forward to better see my reflection as I moved my dagger to cut a bit off my hair. "Why don't you help me, It's dark and I can't see it well enough to not butcher it," I asked.

Kili's cheeks turned red for some reason. It wasn't such a strange question as far as I was concerned. Nidalin, an old friend of mine, had done my hair many times when we were children because there were always twigs and leaves stuck in it. That had never meant anything more than him saying that if I'm not going to act the part, I should at least look like a princess. 

"Me, I could never. I'll ask Thorin for you." Kili quickly walked away, since the rest of the company weren't far away, I could hear Kili asking Thorin if he'd help me with my hair. For some reason, all conversation fell dead. I heard someone clap Thorin on the back and some coins clink as he made his way over to me.

I didn't know what was so significant about Thorin helping me fix my hair, or why Kili wouldn't do it, how it would be translated into a bet least of all, but I was curious to find out. Kili getting Thorin specifically to do was rather suspicious in my opinion.

"What needs to be done?" Thorin asked as he entered the clearing. His face was redder than Kili's before he left.  
"I chopped it after a Goblin got hold of it. I'm trying to make it look presentable but I can't see it. Can you help?" I asked, holding out the dagger for him to take. There was still no conversation at the camp, which I found very odd, given that my friends were the loudest group of people I had ever met. 

"Yes, of course," Thorin said, taking the knife and kneeling behind me. He gently moved his fingers through my hair. He occasionally touched my ears. At first I thought he did it by accident but by the fifth time, I was starting to think that he did that on purpose.  
Accidentally or not, it was making me quite flustered as I struggled to not move too much. 

"Thorin?"  
"Hm?"  
"I asked Kili to help first, but he got flustered and went to get you. I'm curious as to why."  
"Oh uh- he seems to think I'm better suited."

Better suited for what? Was there some meaning behind doing someone's hair that I didn't understand?  
Thorin took my ears between his thumb and his finger and traced them from the beginning to the tip. It sent a shiver down my spine that I didn't hide well enough. Thorin chuckled at my movements.  
"It still tickles when you do that," I said. It came out as quiet whisper.  
Thorin took a few strands of my hair and started braiding it so my ears were fully visible. When he was done I leaned into his touch as he poufed it all up a bit. 

"Turn around," he asked me. I didn't get up, but I did snap my head around so my hair swished and made a funny face at him. His face was still red as he smiled at me. My face was red too now. "It looks nice," he told me as he gently pressed his forehead to mine again.  
"Thank you," I said awkwardly. I suddenly felt the need to be among the others again because I felt like I walked face first into a cultural barrier and broke my nose. I got up and offered my hand to Thorin to help him up as well. For some reason he looked a bit disappointed before he took it. He let go as we walked back to camp.

"Yep. Better," said Kili quickly without looking at me. Murmurs of agreement sounded across the company, but no one would look at either of us. Not even Gandalf.  
"Is there a cultural meaning I don't understand?" I asked, perhaps a bit bluntly. Thorin's hand fell from my back.  
"None at all." I had reason to believe that this was not true, but I decided it was making everyone including me very awkward, so I dropped it. Bofur handed a few coins back to Oin and looked the most disappointed.

"Is Bilbo back yet?" I asked in an attempt to change the subject.  
"I bet he won't be for another hour," Bofur said, finally looking at me.  
I saw Bilbo climb down the ledge, back from his spying mission. 

"I'll take that bet, ten minutes," I offered.  
Bofur eyed me suspiciously but agreed anyway.  
Not eight minutes later, Bilbo burst into the clearing.  
"He's here!" I called, catching the coin pouch that flew my way a little too aggressively.  
"*Knife-eared shit,*" Bofur muttered under his breath in Khuzdul. He seemed to have forgotten that Fili and Kili taught me a few swears, or that I was perfectly capable of hearing someone talk two miles away.  
"Well, excuse me, you ~fuck~."

"How close is the pack?" Dwalin asked Bilbo once he had climbed down.  
"Too close. A couple of leagues, no more, but that's not the worst of it," Bilbo panted.  
"Have the Wargs picked up our scent?" Dwalin pressed on.  
"Not yet, but they will; we have another problem."  
"Did they see you? They saw you!" Gandalf added.  
"No, that's not it," Bilbo sounded increasingly annoyed.  
Gandalf didn't seem to notice as he turned to the Dwarves with a smile. "See, what did I tell you? Quiet as a mouse. Excellent burglar material."  
The Dwarves chuckled loudly in appreciation of Bilbo. I gave him a knowing smile as he looked ready to rip his hair out.  
"Will you listen- Will you just listen? I'm trying to tell you there is something else out there," he yelled in frustration.

Now he had their attention. Gandalf looked concerned.  
"What form did it take? Like a bear?" he asked.  
"Ye-" Bilbo paused, looking confused at Gandalf's accuracy. "Y- yes. But bigger, much bigger."  
Now I was concerned as well. They were talking about Beorn. He once caught me killing one of his lifestock that I had mistaken for wild game. Needless to say, he doesn't like me much. It was over sixty years ago, maybe he had forgiven or forgotten me. I am only alive now because he lost me among the trees. All that for an oversized rabbit.

"You knew about this beast?" Bofur asked Gandalf.  
Gandalf turned and walked a few paces away.  
"I say we double back," suggested Bofur.  
"And walk into the waiting jaws of the Wargs? That is the stupidest plan since Thorin's idea to take on Azog on his own," I jested.  
"Thanks," mumbled Thorin, who was sitting next to me.  
"There is a house, it's not far from here, where we might take refuge," Gandalf said.  
"Whose house? Are they friend or foe?" Thorin inquired.  
"Neither. He will help us, or he will kill us."  
"So, it depends on his mood," I said lightly.

The Dwarves looked at eachother in dismay.  
"What choice do we have?" asked Thorin.  
The words hadn't left his lips or an ear-splitting roar sounded from the trees.  
"I would say, either we are mauled to death and eaten by either a Warg pack or a giant bear, or we a have a good night's sleep, you choose," I said as I got up to run.

We ran through plains and across streams, the Orc pack had noticed us, and followed far behind, but not so far that it didn't make me nervous.  
Another roar sounded, making both groups stop in their tracks. It was closer this time.  
"Well don't just stand there, run!" I urged the company before running again myself.  
As we breached the edge of the forest, I saw a cottage surrounded by a hedge.

"To the house! Run!"  
I was the fastest among us by a long shot, and sprinting my top-speed, so imagine my surprise when I saw Bombur sprinting past me.  
Bombur and I reached the house ahead of everyone else. He threw himself against the door and fell flat on his back when it didn't budge. I rolled my eyes at him and jumped to reach the exterior bolt and pushed the door open. In the next second, the entire company pushed themselves past me and in the house, when everyone was inside, they slammed the door shut.

Not in time though, as Beorn had already gotten his snout in the door. I jumped back with fright at his sudden proximity.  
"~Silver light of Lorien~, you are bigger than I remember!" I yelped in fright.  
Bilbo drew his sword and pointed it unsteadily at him. I calmed my breathing and went to stand next to Gandalf, who was looking on in amusement.  
The Dwarves made quite the racket as they pushed against the door.  
"Come on, lads!" yelled Dwalin. With a final heave, the Dwarves managed to close the door and drop the bolt across it. They sighed in shock, fear, and tiredness.

"What was that?" asked Ori.  
"That is our host," explained Gandalf. "His name is Beorn and he is a Skin-Changer."  
Oin checked his trumpet to make sure he heard Gandalf correctly. If I had one, I would have too, when I first learned about him.  
"Sometimes he's a huge black bear; sometimes he's a great strong man. The bear is unpredictable, but the man can be reasoned with. However, he is not overly fond of Dwarves."  
"Or me," I added. Weirdly, no one was shocked at that news.  
"Hardly surprising," laughed Kili nervously.

Ori peeked out a crack in the door. "He's leaving!"  
Dori pulled him back. "Come away from there! It's not natural, none of it. It's obvious: he's under some dark spell."  
"Don't be a fool; he's under no enchantment but his own. Alright now, get some sleep, all of you. You'll be safe here tonight," Gandalf ordered us. We were too tired to argue and started spreading around the house.  
I took off my boots and laid on a pile of hay for a bit. I was cold, so I waited until I thought Thorin was sound asleep to sneak up to him and steal his coat. Well, actually, I was planning to give it back, so it was more like borrowing without permission.  
I curled myself into a ball and draped Thorin's coat around me, then I fell asleep.

It was my plan to wake up before Thorin to return his coat without him noticing it was ever gone. But that didn't happen, I awoke to Thorin clearing his throat and standing before me, with his arms crossed. The rest of the company pretended to be busy, but I could hear them laughing behind their hands. They weren't great pretenders.

I was confused as to what Thorin wanted of me first, then I realised that he would be wanting his coat back.  
I tried for an innocent grin, but knew that it wouldn't work on him. He held out his hand and with a displeased grunt I sat up and gave him his coat back.  
I yawned and streched while he asked me why I took it.  
"I was cold," I reasoned.  
"So you let me be cold?" He sounded amused.  
"Obviously," I said it as if it was crazy of him to even suggest I do otherwise.

Gandalf called us all to the door.  
"I say we should leg it, slip out the back way," I heard Nori suggest.  
"I ain't not running from anyone, beast or no," Dwalin said stubbornly.  
"There is no point arguing. We cannot pass through the wilderland without Beorn's help. You'll be hunted down!" Gandalf shut them up. "Ah, Dawn and Thorin, there you are. Now, this will require some delicate handling. We must tread very carefully; the last person to have startled him, was torn to shreds."

I swallowed heavily. "Uh, Gandalf? You may not have noticed, but treading carefully is not our strong suit. On top of that, he isn't overly fond of... any of us, come to think of it."  
"That is why I have devised a plan. I will go first and uh-" he looked for someone, "Bilbo? You come with me."  
"Is- is this a good idea? I am rather with Dawn on this point."  
"Yes, yes. Now the rest of you, you just wait here and don't come out until I give the signal." He put special emphasis on the don't.  
"Right, we'll look for the signal," said Bofur, who was sat on the windowsill.  
"And now, no sudden movements or loud noises and don't overcrowd him," Gandalf warned us. "Only come out in pairs." He turned to leave but seemed to remember something and turned back. "No actually, Bombur, you count as two, so you come out alone." Bombur nodded. "And remember, wait for the signal." Gandalf and Bilbo left.

"Right, what signal would that be?" asked Bofur.  
"We'll know, I hope. A handgesture maybe. Now, decide your pairs," I ordered, they did as they were told. I went over to the window where Bofur sat and stood on my tiptoes to see something. Then I realised I wasn't wearing my boots and went back to where I slept.  
I pulled on my boots and walked back to the window.  
Gandalf moved his hand in a way that looked like signalling and I was pushed out. Gandalf didn't seem to hear me walk up.

"Who is this girl? Is she a Halfling too?" Beorn asked. Gandalf turned around.  
"Oh, come on. I'm not that short am I?" I joked. Good, he didn't recognize me. Maybe it was the hair.  
"No, this Dawn, she is an Elf," Gandalf explained.  
"Doesn't sound Elvish to me," Beorn growled.  
"My father was human," I lied when Gandalf didn't react.

Then we heard footsteps behind us. I turned and saw Balin and Dwalin walk out and introduce themselves.  
"Oh, and I must confess, several of our group are in fact, Dwarves," Gandalf explained their appearance quickly.  
"Do you call two several?" Beorn growled, with his woodcutting axe raised.  
Gandalf stumbled over his words. What I could pick up was: "There could be more than two."

Bofur had taken the movement Gandalf made with his hands as a sign to send Oin and Gloin out.  
I backed away as Gandalf tried to calm Beorn down.  
Ori and Dori came out. Then Fili and Kili, and then Nori, Bofur, Bifur and Bombur all came out together and finally, Thorin, who stopped at the doorway and leaned against the frame.

Kili picked a straw out of my hair and Bofur janked away a cloth that hung around Bombur's neck. The whole business was quite awkward with all the toothy grins.


	16. Did I mention that I hate spiders?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loved writing this chapter and the next few so be prepared for like 3000 words of self service per chapter.

In a surprising turn of events, Beorn took us in and even served us breakfast. He prepared milk in giant mugs and the slice of bread I got was thicker than my arm. Needless to say, I was unable to finish my portion. The others shared my leftovers between them. 

"So you are the one they call Oakenshield. Tell me, why is Azog the Defiler hunting you?" Beorn asked Thorin.  
"You know of Azog? How?"  
"My people were the first to live in the mountains, before the Orcs came down from the north. The Defiler killed most of my family, but some he enslaved."

That is horrible. As if Azog wasn't bad enough for trying to massacre the Durin line.

"Not for work, you understand, but for sport. Caging skin-changers and torturing them seemed to amuse him," Beorn continued.

That is even worse. Biologically, Azog probably did have a heart, but I still felt a strong urge to carve his chest open to check.

"There are others like you?" Asked Bilbo.  
"Once, there were many."  
"And now?"  
"Now, there is only one."

Right, let's leave the wound open then.

"You need to reach the mountain before the last days of autumn?" Beorn asked, to break the silence that had fallen.  
"Before Durin's Day falls, yes," answered Gandalf.  
"You are running out of time."  
"Which is why we must go through Mirkwood."  
I really was not looking forward to that part.

"A darkness lies upon that forest. Fell things creep beneath those trees. There is an alliance between the Orcs of Moria and the Necromancer in Dol Guldur. I would not venture there except in great need."

Exactly. Wait what?

"Is the prince okay?" I asked Beorn.  
"I do not know, why do you ask?"  
"He is my brother."  
"Then you are not Dawn, or a halfbreed," he concluded.  
"No, I am not," I confessed.  
"Why do you travel with these Dwarves, princess?"  
"It is safer to travel in a company of fifteen armed men than alone I would say." 

To be honest, the real reason was unknown to me. When Gandalf had first approached me, I agreed to come because it was a pristine oppertunity to get out of Bree, but if that was the only reason, I would have stayed in Rivendell, or even the Shire. I do not know what the other reasons were. Maybe just to help them where I failed to do so previously. At this point I almost thought Gandalf was on his second attempt of trying to get me adopted into a loving family.

"We will take the Elven road, that path is still safe. And Dawn knows the forest."  
"Safe? The Wood-Elves of Mirkwood are not like their kin. They are less wise and more dangerous."  
While I knew that I myself was the perfect example of that, I was still highly offened. I frowned at him. Kili and Fili noticed and were about to joke about it when Beorn cut them off. 

"But it matters not."  
"What do you mean?" asked Thorin, who also sounded amused at the fact that I just sat there being salty instead of attacking Beorn, which would have proven his point.

"These lands are crawling with Orcs. Their numbers are growing, and you are on foot. You will never reach the forest alive."   
We didn't really know how to respond to that.   
Beorn rose from the table. "I don't like dwarves. They're greedy and blind, blind to the lives of those they deem lesser than their own." 

Now it was Thorin's turn to be salty and he crossed his arms. I smirked at him and then at Kili and Fili, leaning back in my chair but falling backwards to the ground. I had forgotten that I was sitting cross-legged on the table instead of on a chair.

The rest of the Company burst with laughter. I got up and glared at them. "Shut up, I landed on my feet," I huffed. 

When they'd finally calmed down, Beorn acted as if nothing had happened, but I could hear the amusement in his voice.   
"Orcs I hate more. What do you need?"  
"Do you have a spare knife?" I asked him.

-~-

We were saddling up horses. They were beautiful. White with black spots and long manes. Beorn only had one big horse, so I sat infront of Gandalf's saddle. The small ones were just a tad too small.  
Beorn bid us farewell. He even gave me a small knife that I could use as a dagger. I could finally throw a knife again.

We rode rapidly across the plains. It was not a very comfortable ride for me. When I asked Gandalf to switch, he just chuckled and told me to hold on.

At dusk, we neared the edge of Mirkwood. Gandalf dismounted and helped me down. I walked up to the edge of the forest.  
It looked different than it had when I left it. Much less green. It wasn't the time of year that made the forest seem lifeless either. Throughout my life the forest had never lost its green. The only way to keep track of the seasons was by my father's crown and the temperature.   
Radagast had been right, it seemed like nothing growed anymore.

"The Elven Gate," Gandalf said, admiring it. "Here lies the path through Mirkwood."  
"No sign of the Orcs, we have luck on our side," said Dwalin as he hopped off his pony.  
"Set the ponies loose. Let them return to their master," Gandalf bid the rest. They did as they were told, taking off their supplies.

Bilbo approached me. "This forest feels... sick, as if a disease lies upon it. Is there no way around?" he asked me.  
"Not unless we go two hundred miles north, or twice that distance south," Gandalf answered for me as I continued to stare at the forest that used to be my home.

I followed the path a few paces until I reached the statue of my mother. It was covered in plants. Thranduil had let her shrine deteriorate. I brushed off some dirt but left the plants, she would have liked them.   
Gandalf had followed me and closed his eyes. He suddenly janked the vines covering the face of the statue away, revealing a symbol that was painted on. I did not know it, but Gandalf looked distressed. It just made me angry. Not necessarily at Gandalf roughly removing the vines, or the fact that the symbol was there, but I was just in general a bit moody.

"The high fells... so be it," muttered Gandalf. I didn't know what that meant and didn't care to ask. I chanted a spell that made plants grow faster and made vines with little white flowers grow over the statue's head like a veil, covering the symbol. I felt better right away, but I knew that the symbol wasn't gone. 

My mother was a closed book. A story that was long over. She was the general before I had to take over. She died a courageous and heroic death battling the Orcs of the north long ago. My training had long since been completed, but it would take some time before I was remotely ready to lead the army that suddenly lay at my feet. My mother had been a great general, and only when I realised that I didn't have to live up to her, was I able to follow in her footsteps.   
Thranduil had put the responsibility of leading the army on my shoulders, as Legolas would be king one day. I don't know how it was managed now, but I can bet someone had lost plenty of sleep over it. 

I got up and walked back to the rest of the Company. I saw the retreating form of Gandalf. "Where's he going?" I asked.   
"He'll meet us at the mountain," was Thorin's answer. That was not what I had asked.  
Thorin turned to the forest. "Come on. We must reach the mountain before the sun sets on Durin's Day."  
"Durin's Day. Let's go!" said Dwalin.  
"This is our one chance to find the hidden door."

We entered the forest. Thorin took the lead, despite my protest that I knew the forest. To be honest, I didn't know the path, no one used it anymore, and on the ground the forest looked different than it did from the treetops. The path was challenging to follow, as it was partially hidden under a blanket of fallen leaves, but if you payed attention, it shouldn't be too difficult not to stray from it. 

A thought struck me and I aired it to Fili, who was walking in front of me. "This path leads to the city, I may see my father again."  
He looked over his shoulder. "I would hope not."   
"If we do I want to annoy him as much as possible, what if I pretend I married one of you?"  
He looked over his shoulder again, and smirked. "I suggest Thorin for that." Both his and brother's obsession with my relationship to Thorin was starting to get old. I know I like Thorin, we get there when we get there. And when I work up the courage to tell him.   
"Why Thorin?"  
"My mere suggestion annoys both you and my uncle. If you go through with it, it will certainly bother your father, and you get to practise being married to Thorin. Win win."  
I playfully hit the back of his head. Some part of me wanted us to be found now.

-~-

After a long, long while of walking, the dwarves were all complaining.  
"Air! I need air!"  
"My head, it's spinning."

I think we had been in here for two or three weeks, but to be honest, along with the sun and moon, I had lost track of time. I couldn't climb to the tree tops to get a better look every few paces either, as the Company was in too bad a state to be left alone even for a short while.

We reached a river and a broken down bridge. Like I said, no one uses this path anymore. It isn't looked after.  
"We could try and swim it," suggested Bofur.  
"Didn't you hear what Gandalf said? A dark magic lies upon this forest," rejected Thorin. "The waters of this stream are enchanted."  
"Doesn't look very enchanting to me," slurred Bofur. The forest was affecting them.  
"We must find another way across."  
I was already looking for ways that didn't involve climbing the trees.

"These vines look strong enough," I suggested.  
"We send the lightest first," said Thorin.  
"Is that Dawn or Kahla-something?" Fili asked, not realising that both names referred to me.  
"I'll go," I called so no one thought that they were Dawn or Kahla-something. I jumped to the closest vine. I climbed up a bit and tried to get it closer to the river bank. As I jumped from vine, I pulled away the ones that weren't strong enough and tried to get the path as easy to follow as possible. When I thought I had done a decent enough job, I leapt to the opposite bank and turned to face the Company.   
"You're up next, Bilbo! Show them the easiest route." Bilbo was the only one other than me who wasn't affected by the forest's spells. They were meant to keep intruders out or to get them so hopelessly lost that they never got out again. There were special ways to prevent the protective charms from working on you, but they were really hard to fake. You had to be either an Elf, a Wizard, or a member of a race the first settlers of Mirkwood didn't know about. I was guessing Hobbits were a case of the last. This was also the reason why any and all diplomatic talks were not ever held here.

Bilbo did come over next, but everyone else went immediately after him, which was not a smart thing to do. Bilbo made it over, quickly followed by Thorin.  
I went a little bit ahead to catch us some food. I did remain within earshot of them. Either the Dwarves were too loud, or along with nothing growing, no animals lived in the forest anymore. There was not even a scent of a potential prey. After an hour, I returned empty handed.

I heard the sound of a bowstring being pulled and looked up to see Thorin pointing his bow at me. It was actually quite terribly aimed, his stance was all wrong and he wasn't even looking past his arrow. But you never know, he might accidentally hit me.  
"Don't do that!" I bid him.  
He fired anyway. He missed me, but if I hadn't jumped aside his arrow would have landed in my leg.  
I glared at him. He didn't even look at me. I doubted that he had even seen me. I kept shooting looks over my shoulder to see if Thorin wouldn't try to shoot me again.  
It wasn't his fault and I knew that. The enchantment made the residents of the forest look like magical shiny white versions of forest animals to anyone who was affected by it. I had probably looked like a deer or a fox and Thorin was probably hungry.

Everyone was finally over. Bombur had fallen asleep mid-climb and had to be carried. How the forest affected nearly everyone was getting on every single one my nerves.  
Eventually everyone wanted to take a rest so we stopped. I sat on a low-hanging branch a bit away from the company. My urge to kill one of them was rising with every word they spoke. We had left the road some time ago, because I knew a quicker route to the other side of the forest that didn't go through the city.  
"Is there no end to this accursed forest!" I heard Thorin yell in frustration, for what had to be at least the fifteenth time today.

"Had enough rest? We need to reach the mountain before Durin's day! You said that yourself," I called as I jumped down from the branch. The sudden movement seemed to startle them, but with a little threatening on my part, I managed to coax them to follow me again.

-~-

"Look!"   
"It's a tobacco pouch. There's dwarves in these woods."  
"Dwarves from the Blue Mountains, no less. This is exactly the same as mine."  
I'll admit that I let myself get carried away by their constant groaning and wasn't really paying mind to where we were going.  
"That's because it is yours. You understand? We're going around in circles. We're lost!" Bilbo was by far the least affected, but the rest was so far gone that Bilbo and I were both constantly counting and keeping everyone together. Bilbo more than I, since I looked like a stag made of snow to them. Why I looked like a stag and not a doe was strange, but I didn't question it.

"Then why don't you lead?" I hissed annoyedly. I wasn't annoyed at Bilbo, but the rest made me want to tear my hair out.   
"We're not lost. We keep heading East," Dwalin said.  
"But which way is East? We've lost the sun," came Oin's heavily slurred voice.  
We weren't going East, exactly, more North-East.

The Dwarves began bickering amongst themselves. Bilbo had climbed a tree to find the sun. Great, now we had to wait again.  
The Dwarves were now pushing eachother around. I heard strange whispers and looked for their source.  
"Enough! Quiet! All of you! We are being watched," yelled Thorin.

Suddenly, giant spiders burst through the trees. I stood rooted to the spot in fear. I don't mind small spiders, but these were the size of Trolls. These I did mind.  
As soon as I found the courage to, I ran away. It's called a tactical retreat. It is important to back away from fights you can't win. 

On my way away I bumped into Thorin, who had his sword drawn.  
"There's spiders, Thorin. Spiders everywhere," I whimpered. He looked at me in confusion. Ah, right. I am a deer. "Please get me out of here!" I begged him with fear and panic in my voice.  
It was pathetic really. "You, afraid of spiders?" he asked with a chuckle in his tone. "Shut up. Kili told me you're afraid of me. Please just get us out of here!"  
Gone was the woman who'd dethroned a Goblin King and stood up against Azog the Defiler. She was replaced by a squeamish girl that was mortally afraid of spiders. While she grew up in a fucking forest crawling with the damn things. 

They'll never let me live this down.

I'll have to admit, I was probably starting to get affected by the forest as well. Banishment might be included in the spells too. The spiders probably weren't as big as they looked, but I still didn't like them. I pressed myself against Thorin's back and drew my sword. I looked left to right, but fell flat on my back when Thorin was grabbed and rolled up into a web. I screamed as the same happened to me.

-~-

I fell to the ground. I hadn't noticed that I was up in a tree. Then I noticed I was wrapped in a spider's web and feverently began to tear at it. I continued to lay on the ground, breathing erratically, trying to calm myself.

"Where is Bilbo?" I heard Bofur ask.  
Indeed, as I looked around, I didn't see him. "Bilbo!"  
"I'm up here!" Bilbo called from a high tree branch.  
I got up. "Bilbo, behind you!" I yelled as I saw a spider try to sneak up on him. He managed to duck just in time and stabbed it in the gut. Then the others came back and we were surrounded again.

This time they didn't catch me by surprise. I drew my bow and shot one in one of it's eight eyes, killing it. Then I leapt from branch to branch, shooting left and right. Killing at least four of them before I bumped into someone and fell down. It was an Elf. We were found by an Elvish patrol. I landed on my ass in front of Thorin, who, despite the situation, chuckled and helped me up. I went to the side of the clearing to see if the spiders were still there, but the patrol was taking care of them.

Then instead of surrounded by spiders, we were surrounded by Elves, my brother amongst them, pointing his bow in Thorin's face. He hadn't noticed me yet.

"Do not think I will not kill you, Dwarf. It would be my pleasure," Legolas threathened Thorin.  
I grabbed the knife Beorn had given me and flung it at Legolas's bow. It cut the string and embedded itself in the tree next to him.  
Legolas looked at his bow in confusion. I took that moment to dramatically make my presence known to him.

I stepped infront of Thorin, facing Legolas. "You would die before your stroke fell," I explained calmly with a smirk.  
He looked in my eyes and immediately reconised me.   
My smirk grew wider.

"~Hello Brother.~"


	17. Kili is gay the other way. Am I gay?

Legolas looked at me in even more confusion now. "~Kahlahari?~"

"~How many short Elves who call you their brother do you know?~"

"~It has been over seventy years, I haven't heard a whisper of your existence and you greet me by throwing a knife at me?~"

I was about to answer when I was cut off by scream from Kili. "Help!"  
"Kili!" Fili shouted. He was being dragged away by a spider with more spiders surrounding him.  
Then the one dragging Kili died with an arrow sticking out of its head before I could even grab my bow. I looked for the shooter and saw a red headed Elf run through the trees, shooting and flinging knives at the other spiders.

I recognised her, it was Tauriel, Legolas's childhood crush I wouldn't let him hear the end of. She was quite a bit younger than me and had been my second in command back when I was still a general. I always tried to help the two of them get together by being Legolas's wingman but nothing ever came of it.

I smirked at him.  
"~Shut up.~"  
"~But I haven't said anything yet,~" I teased.  
"~You were going to.~"  
"~I would never.~" 

"Search them," Legolas ordered once Kili had been returned to the group. Judging by his reaction, he was still in no luck on the Tauriel department.  
The patrol's searching was so thorough that the soldier searching me found a dagger I had forgotten about.  
"~What have you done to your hair?~" Legolas asked me, plucking some webbing out of it.  
I shrugged. "~It had to go, kept getting stuck.~"  
Legolas gave me a look of suspicion but didn't say anything as he moved to searching Thorin.

Kili tapped my shoulder, a deep blush on his cheek. "Hey, um, I wanted to know if... is that one... female?" he asked awkwardly, referring to Tauriel.

"She is, her name is Tauriel. Good fighter, better friend. But I'd watch it if I were you, you've got competition," I teased nodding to Legolas. I knew full well he could hear me so I added: "Who really is no competition at all."  
Legolas glared at me over his shoulder. In his face I read 'Remind me to gut you later.' I grinned at him.  
"~Hey, I tried. It's not my fault.~" He looked a bit pissy and looked away again.

"~Are the spiders dead?~" he asked Tauriel.  
"~Yes, but more will come, they're growing bolder.~"

I watched as one member of the patrol pulled two Elvish daggers out of Fili's coat. I recognized them. "Hey, those are mine! How did you get them?" I demanded.  
He gave me an innocent smile.  
Nice try. Not on me though.  
I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow. "Kili and I had a bet going on to see how many knives I could steal before you noticed," he said, still grinning.  
"Well, two, as it turns out."

"Three, actually," the soldier searching Fili corrected me.  
I raised my other eyebrow and Fili chuckled.  
"Once I get my weapons back, I am going to hang your heads above my fireplace," I told Fili.  
The soldier held out one my blades while continuing to search Fili.

"Friend, what fireplace?" I asked him.

"~This is an ancient Elfish blade, forged by my kin,~" I heard Legolas say behind me. "Where did you get this?" he asked Thorin.  
"It was given to me."  
"Not just a thief, but a liar as well," concluded Legolas wrongly. "~Take them!~"  
"~Your sister as well?~"

Legolas turned to me. "~Are you with them?~" he asked, as if it wasn't clear enough.  
"~No, I have just been very carefully avoiding you all for seventy years.~"  
"~Yes, her too!~"

-~-

We were led to the palace. Past my father, who was on the throne. I waved at him. The look on his face was worth more than all the treasure of Erebor.

We were pushed into cells. There weren't enough empty ones for all of us, so we were split into small groups. I got one with Thorin. Legolas looked less than pleased at that, but there weren't any other places I could go that he would be more pleased with.

"Legolas!" I called after him as he strode off. He looked at me over his shoulder. "I'll want my weapons back when we escape."  
"If," he corrected me.  
"When," I returned the favour.

I sat the back wall listening to the others protest. I noticed that they hadn't gotten Bilbo. That very fortunate. "Four," I heard the soldier in charge of Fili say.   
"What the fuck, Fili!" I shouted from the back of the cell so he could hear it.

"Aren't you going to search me? I could have anything down my pants," I heard Kili say, likely to Tauriel.

Kili! No! That's bad!

"Or nothing," she countered and I heard a door close. He kind of deserved that. I went to stand in the door again, looking at the scene adjacent to me.  
I grinned at Kili, who didn't look at me but stared after Tauriel.

She moved out of sight and out of the dwarves' earshot. "~Why does the Dwarf stare at you, Tauriel,~" I heard Legolas say. 

Someone was jealous. 

"~Who can say,~" Tauriel said before she sighed. "~He's quite tall for a Dwarf,~" she paused before hastily saying: "~Do you not think?~" I heard her hurry off.  
"~Taller than some, but no less ugly!~" He called after her.

Someone was extremely jealous.

The Dwarves heard that last bit and looked at me, evidently wanting a translation.  
"Are you sure?" I asked them with a smirk.  
"Aye!" A bunch of them said.  
"He called you ugly."  
Instead of the shouts of protests and obscenities I expected I heard one confused Ori mutter: "I thought that was a lass, since you called him Legolas."

I sunk to the floor laughing, "~You hear that, sister?~" I laughed. Legolas grumbled as an answer.

"How can you tell?" Fili asked when I'd calmed myself. "You know, for future reference for Kili." He got a punch for that. 

"Same way as with humans, we based our concept of gender of theirs."  
"What? Aren't some elves older than mankind?"  
"Well, yes. But we didn't have gender back then. We looked the same as we do now, but we just didn't care." After a brief bit bit of silence, I added: "One of the first conversations between Men and Elves must have gone somewhat like this:   
The fuck are you?  
I am Elf.  
No I mean, what's between your legs?  
Elf? Occasionally..."   
Everyone was laughing and having a blast. I almost forgot that we were locked up, and not just having a resting day.

Then a question struck me: "How do you tell with Dwarves?" I asked, tilting my head.  
Thorin chuckled from where he was leaning against the back wall. The rest was laughing more loudly.  
"Lads have fuller beards than lasses," Balin explained, wiping away a tear of laughter.

Makes sense. These guys all had quite full beards. Well all except...  
My eyes widened in realisation. "Hold up, Fili and Kili are princesses instead of princes and Thorin is a queen instead of a king?"  
The Dwarves that I hadn't adressed as female were roaring with laughter now. I even heard Legolas softly chuckling by the entrance before he masked it with a cough.   
The daughters of Durin however, were not amused. Kili and Fili glared at me from their cells.  
Thorin did look somewhat amused, but he tried to hide it. "I assure you we are all male," he tried to cover up the chuckle that followed by coughing.  
"Yeah right, queen Thorin."  
"Have a little respect for your queen, Dawn!" Bofur joked from the cell next to us.

"Do you want me to prove it to you?" Thorin whispered in my ear.

-~-

In the weak light of dawn, I crept towards the king's chambers where my parents would be asleep. Today was my fortieth birthday. Father had promised me time and time again that he would teach me to fight when I was forty, like he did with Legolas. I was strong enough to lift a shield now. I could pull bowstrings almost to my cheeks and swinging a sword around was a walk in the park. Legolas had been secretly teaching me how to do this stuff for the past ten years, but now I would get my own weapons and real training. 

I pushed the door ajar and slipped in very silently. When I reached the bed, I jumped on it like a small child. "~Dad! Wake up! I'm forty! I want to fight!~" Mother groaned and turned around on the bed to face me while father shot up. 

"~Don't I get a forty-year-old's kiss?~" Mom croaked in her morning voice.  
I bent down from where I sat on father's lap and gave her a chaste kiss on her cheek before I pulled away again. 

Not quickly enough though. She grabbed me and pulled me off my father's lap and locked me in a hug while ruffling my hair. "~Come here you.~"  
She kissed the back of my head.  
Dad let himself fall on his side and caressed my cheek before he put his arm around my mom and pulled both of us toward him. I had no chance of escaping the hugs and kisses that ensued.

After a while, father sat up again, the sun filtered through the curtains now. Legolas stood in the doorway with a neatly wrapped parcel in his hands. "~I knew you'd be here as soon as the sun rose,~" he smiled before sitting on the foot of the bed. "~This is for you,~" Legolas handed me the parcel and I immediately tore it open. In it was a wooden bow that was slightly too big for me to work properly.

The bow I got that day was the one I learned the trade with. If Thranduil hadn't thrown it out, or used my room for other things now, it still hung above my mantlepiece. Though it was an ancient relic now and would probably fall apart if you looked at it too aggressively. 

-~-

After what I guess was a few days, I got up and addressed Thorin. "Chances are we are going to be called up soon. I wanted to pretend I married one of you. Fili suggested I choose you, because that would annoy the both of you."

He sighed in what I think was annoyance, which proved my point. To my surprise, he agreed, but only because it would annoy Thranduil. For me it was like a triple win situation. I got to annoy two people at the same time, and I didn't have to explain why I was travelling with a company of thirteen Dwarves. 

Four wins if you count being married to Thorin. 

My timing was impeccable, as a small group of guards whose faces I didn't reconise came to get the both of us for an audience with the king.  
Maybe I still had some Wizard's timing, even though I technically wasn't one anymore.

When we were led into the throne room, the king was sitting high and mighty on his throne of polished tree roots.  
Neither of us bowed. I don't think he expected us to. He addressed Thorin first. "Some may imagine that a noble quest is at hand. A quest to reclaim a homeland and slay a Dragon. I myself suspect a more prosaic motive: attempted burglary, or something of that ilk."

He circled around Thorin, trying to intimidate him by height difference. Thorin kept his face devoid of all emotion, so if Thranduil's trick worked, I couldn't say.  
"You have found a way in. You seek that which would bestow upon you the right to rule: the King's Jewel, the Arkenstone. It is precious to you beyond measure. I understand that. There are gems in the mountain that I too desire. White gems of pure starlight. I offer you my help."

The necklace he had commissioned for my mother. That peaqued my interest, but I didn't want his help. I guess that it was not up to me whose aid we accepted or not, though.

"I am listening," Thorin said, sounding a bit bored actually.  
"I will let you go, if you but return what is mine."   
The gems weren't technically his. They were the Dwarves', he hadn't paid for their services yet. I wondered if he was aware of that.

Thorin turned and walked off. I almost thought that he was trying to escape, but after a few paces he slowed. "A favour for a favour," he thought aloud.  
"You have my word. One king to another."

Thorin stopped walking. Still facing away from Thranduil.  
"I would not trust Thranduil, the great king, to honor his word should the end of all days be upon us!" His voice got louder with every word.  
He spun around and pointed at Thranduil. He was shouting now. "You lack all honor! I've seen how you treat your friends and your children. We came to you once, starving, homeless, seeking your help, but you turned your back. You turned away from the suffering of my people and the inferno that destroyed us! You banished your own daughter and general of your army after she wanted to help us!"

"*Imrid amrad ursul!*" Thorin shouted. I didn't know what it meant, but Thranduil seemed offened. He got right in Thorin's face.   
"Do not speak to me of Dragon Fire! I know its wrath and ruin. I have faced the great serpents of the North," he hissed. It appears he had a Dwarvish friend who taught him to curse at one point too. I found that quite hard to believe.   
His face contorted, taking away the layer of magic that covered his scars.   
He did this quite often throughout my childhood to scare Legolas and me into behaving. It used to really scare when I was little, but now that I had some scars of my own, it didn't scare me as much. Just made me respect him, even if I still hated him.

He straightened again and his face returned to how it normally looked. He still hadn't adressed me, or even acknowledged my presence. And I hadn't made it known, I just stood were the guards had deposited me.  
"I warned your grandfather of what his greed would summon, but he would not listen," Thranduil turned and walked up the steps to his throne.  
"You are just like him," he spat. He waved his hand and two guards came to drag Thorin away, they left me were I was though.

"Stay here if you will, and rot. A hundred years is a mere blink in the life of an Elf. I am patient. I can wait," he called after Thorin as he sat down. If Thranduil was a thousand things, patient would not be one of them.

Thus far, I had not trusted myself to speak.   
I watched the guards as they rounded the corner before turning back to face the Elven King.  
"~You wanted to see me?~" I asked carefully, not wanting to piss him off further.  
"~What is your business with a company of thirteen Dwarves?~" he demanded sternly.  
I thought about telling him that I was a sell sword, but in my opinion, thirteen dwarves with swords and axes should be able to take care of themselves. Not these though.  
Then I thought about just going with my original plan. But eventually, I decided that he deserved the truth. I don't know why, but I decided that I would fill him in on what had happened to me personally.  
I heard Thorin shout something from down in the dungeons, but I couldn't make out what.

I drew a deep shuddery breath. "~Seven decades ago, when you- when I got banished, I decided to go to the other side of the Misty Mountains. I became a hunter in Bree. It was quite difficult to adjust from leading armies to that. I hit a low point and wanted nothing more than to leave that place, but I couldn't. After about twenty years, Gandalf the Grey found me and recruited me to become his apprentice,~" I paused waiting for his reaction. There was none that I noticed, so I carried on. "~So, I did. I did become his apprentice. After twenty more years, I had earned myself a title, Kahlahari the Green, a healer. It did not last though, a little over a year ago, I had my title revoked, pieces of my past had caught up to me,~" I sighed and went on. "~I ran away again, I hid behind a human disguise and went back to Bree, back to hunting. Gandalf approached me again, saying that a group of Dwarves needed my help, with a promise of treasure. At first I went with them because I just wanted to leave that place and never look back. Then I heard the full story from their mouths, about the battle we backed down from, and I was determined to help them. I've just been trying to find home. If not mine, then theirs.~" The last sentence came out a bit choked, but for the rest of the story I could keep my voice quite level.

Thranduil was looking into my eyes, he looked distracted though. He didn't react in the slightest to my story. "~Have you been listening to me?~"

Nothing.

"~Thranduil?~" I tried again.  
"~You are so much like your mother, always caring for those who couldn't do so for themselves. So selfless.~"

I wouldn't describe myself as selfless, more the opposite really. People usually told me I was more like him. Which might have been the reason we couldn't get along so well after mother's death.

"~Do you want to come back home?~"

That question had me rooted the spot and my eyes wide. I wanted to, but this was not home. Not to me. Not anymore. I decided to tell him the polite way.  
"~I'll have to- I'll have to think about that.~"

He nodded absentmindedly and motioned for his guards to escort me back down. Unlike Thorin, I did cooperate.

"~You might want to check on your father, I think I broke him,~" I said as we passed Legolas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~soooo much elvish~
> 
> For those of you wondering if they did fuck, I won't deny having written it. If any of you want to read that, I could post that separately.
> 
> If no one asks I will more than likely prentend I did not write selfindulging porn that I hsd not planned on posting.


	18. Surprising no one, getting shot hurts.

I got locked up in the cell with Thorin again. After a while I asked: "What did you yell that made Thranduil so angry?" Thorin looked at me, not a spark of humour in his eyes.   
"I told him to die in a Dragon's fire."  
I cringed, that was at least an explanation for why father lashed out at him.

"Do you have a lock pick?" I heard Nori ask me.   
"Why would I need a lock pick? I don't land in jail very often," I reacted.  
"But do you have one?"  
"Had," I admitted. "I think I lost it at some point."  
Bofur groaned.

After an hour of losing staring contests to the wall, I began singing, a lullaby that mother used to sing for Legolas and me. The lyrics never made much sense to me, but it was a calming tune. When I'd finished, I heard snoring from all cells but my own. I just assumed that Thorin wasn't much of a snorer and closed my own eyes. I woke up some time later with Thorin's coat draped over me. 

Weird, I couldn't recall nicking it. Despite it being in Thorin's possession very long, the fur was still soft, I noted as I absentmindedly stroked it.  
As silently as I could, I put on the coat and went to the door of the cell to try and see if I could look up into the night sky, but I couldn't. To be honest, I didn't know if it was even night time. It was dark in the dungeons though. The stone floor was hard and cold too and there were no beds.  
I hesitated for only a moment before I moved over to a now slightly snoring Thorin and curled up against his side, trying to steal his body warmth.  
I was planning to go to the other side of the cell again before Thorin woke up. But when I felt his arm around me, I knew that wasn't going to happen and just accepted my fate. Wasn't that hard really. In fact, it was quite easy.

-~-

I had lost track of time since we were locked up. Legolas came to talk to me every once in a while. Tauriel talked to both Kili and me. Thorin had put a small braid with a silver bead on the side of my face and done the rest of my hair in an elaborate Dwarven fashion. I did his too, in Elven fashion, though it didn't look right on him and I took it out almost immediately. Legolas didn't like it one bit, but I told him to suck it up.

"I'd wager the sun's on the rise. It must be nearly dawn!" I heard Bofur report.  
"We're never going to reach the mountain are we?" sighed Ori hopelessy.

"Not stuck in here you're not."   
Bilbo had either suddenly appeared out of thin air, or my hearing was getting worse. I don't which one I prefer. Neither, most likely. I jumped back in surprise, bumping into Thorin, who stood behind me. The Dwarves let out whoops of celebration. Bilbo bid them to be quiet, as there were guards nearby.

He unlocked Thorin's and my cell first. Working quickly after that to free us all. The Dwarves went to the stairs. "Not that way! You'll go through the throne room. Follow me, I know a safer way," I beckoned them back and led them down the cellar.

I heard some Dwarves chuckle and saw some smile at me out the corner of my eye but I paid it no mind as we walked down the spiral staircase.

"This way."  
"I don't believe it; we're in the cellars!" exclaimed Kili. The Dwarves were getting mad at me.  
"You were supposed to be leading us out, not further in!" Fili complained.

"Well excuuuuuse me, princess! Will you all shut it? I spent over two millennia here!" I defended myself.

"This way," Bilbo apparently knew where we were headed.   
We snuck into a large room in which several empty barrels were stacked sideways down the middle of the room. I counted them in disbelief. There were at least twenty. Must have been one hell of a party.  
I climbed into one of the upper ones and beckoned the dwarves to do the same. "Are you mad? They'll find us!" retorted Dwalin.  
"No, no, they won't, I promise you. Please, please, you MUST trust us!" Bilbo defended me.

The Dwarves stood about not getting in the fucking barrels like I asked them to. I heard something going on upstairs and knew that we had been found missing. I shot Thorin a warning glare. He saw it. "Do as she says," he ordered quickly.

They got into the barrels as Bilbo counted them to make sure we got everyone. "What now?" asked Bofur. All heads turned to either me or Bilbo.  
"You hold your breath," I said. It was fun for me and Bilbo to be only ones who knew what was going on for once. Well, at least I think I got the gist of his plan.

Bilbo pulled the lever that released the barrels into the river for the bargeman to collect. It made a little too much noise for my liking and Bilbo hadn't come down yet. The floor of the room we were just in tipped again. Bilbo fell down, screaming and all. He landed with a splash and grabbed onto Nori's barrel, beckoning us to go on.  
We paddled with our hands until the current caught us. I saw Elves run over bridges and passage ways. We fell down a waterfall and got carried away by the rapids. I saw Legolas and a bunch of guards emerge. Then one of them blew a horn and other Elves closed the gates. We piled against it. Suddenly, an Elf dropped into the water with a black arrow sticking out of their back, their blood spreading into the water. That disturbed me, but I quickly regained my senses. Orcs were taking over the guard post now.  
Were these guys ever going to leave us alone? How did they even reach the city? 

Kili and I spotted the lever at the same time and climbed out of our barrels. Kili ducked beneath an Orc's blow and I tackled it by sweeping its legs. "Kili! Dawn!" Dwalin called for our attention. He had managed to get two swords which he flung at us. Both Kili and I caught one. We fought our way to the lever and Kili began to push it while I turned and kept the orcs at bay.  
I saw an arrow flying at Kili, knowing he could not dodge it in time if I warned him, and I couldn't deflect it with the sword. I caught it by flinging myself in the way. The arrow caught in my shoulder and I groaned in pain.

"Dawn!" I vaguely heard someone yell my name. Kili had pushed the lever and pried himself under my arm and tried to guide me back to the water while also defending us both from the Orcs. All I could do was try to keep up in what I assume would be drunken stupor. With the arrow still sticking out of my shoulder, I dropped ungracefully into a barrel, hissing in pain.

I broke off most of the long shaft of the arrow, keeping the head in place, or else I would bleed out before I could heal myself.  
The stream led us down another waterfall and out of the forest. The Orcs chased after us on land. The river narrowed and Orcs on both sides began shooting arrows at us. The few weapons we had were thrown around for most efficient use. The Elves had to be catching up, because I saw Orcs that were nowhere near us fall into the river.

The annoying thing was, the Orcs wanted us dead, the Elves wanted the Orcs dead and didn't really care if some of us were caught in the crossfire, and all we had were ours wits, barely, a bunch of barrels and five weapons shared between us. Make that four, I dropped mine when I got shot.

A spear caught in Bombur's barrel, catapulting him to the riverbank where he rolled along, knocking down and killing several orcs. It flipped over to the other bank, where it killed even more orcs. The barrel came to a halt, so Bombur kicked out the bottom and stuck his arms out the sides. He held an axe or sword in both hands and spun around rapidly, mowing down all the Orcs that were near him. He then broke the rest of the barrel and jumped down into an empty one in the river. It was quite graceful for a guy his size.

Legolas caught up with us. He jumped on the heads of two of the Dwarves and shot orcs from there. In between two shots, he threw down a bundle into my barrel. It was my bow with a filled quiver, and my daggers. I quickly clipped the quiver on the leather strap that I wore diagonally over my chest and left the daggers lying on the bottom of the barrel for a bit. I would equip them later, when the most immediate threat was over.  
After a while it seemed like all the Orcs were dead and Legolas jumped to the side. I mouthed a thank-you at him as we drifted off.

Eventually, the river calmed and widened. The pain from the arrow had not ebbed away however.   
"Anything behind us?" Asked Thorin.  
"Not that I can see," reported Balin.   
I wasn't swimming myself, but my head was. I had been shot before, not in the shoulder, but that time did hurt way less than this one did.  
I tried to see up the river myself. My eyes were better than Balin's. Were. I couldn't see much farther than to the banks and didn't report on it. 

A visually impaired Elf. That was a good one. 

"I think we've outran the Orcs."  
"Not for long; we've lost the current."  
"Dawn isn't looking too well," Dwalin caught my eye.   
"I'm fine," I said as I nearly puked over the side of the barrel. "Just a little sea sick," I added when he looked at me with a raised brow.

"Make for the shore! Come on, let's go!" ordered Thorin. I paddled with my good arm. I was by far the last to reach the shore, when I finally did, I grabbed my daggers and climbed out of the barrel. I quickly tucked two of them into my boots, one in the side of my corset, one in the empty sheath of my sword and the last three I stuffed under my belt. I sat down and pulled out the arrow head and threw it down. Then I chanted the spell for healing open wounds. It had no effect, it didn't even stop the bleeding.

"Feck," I hissed, under my breath.  
"What's that? What you- what you said," Bilbo asked. "Is it Elvish?" He sounded strangely far away, yet he was sitting right next to me.  
I nodded while keeping a tight jaw, trying not show how much pain I was in. "It's like fuck, but in Sindarin." 

It was, in fact, not. But to keep my pride a bit I could pretend that my slurring was Elvish.

I noticed that I was still wearing Thorin's coat. I shrugged it off and returned it to Thorin. "Sorry, I got it all bloody," I apologised. My voice sounded strained.

"You can keep it until we find you something else. How is your wound?" he asked, pushing the coat back into my hands. I covered my still bleeding shoulder with my hand. "I'm fine. I healed it," I lied. He tried to move my hand away carefully to inspect it himself, apparently not trusting me to make enough of a drama of this, or just not buying my bullshit.

I bat his arm away and a squirt of blood hit Thorin in the face. I gave him that grin a child would give her mother after she got caught stealing some candy.

"Healed I see?" He wiped the blood of his face. I just shrugged my good shoulder. "Well not yet, but I'll get to it." He nodded and walked away to make sure no one else was injured and to duscuss our next course of action. I ripped off the bottom-front of my tunic and made a bandage out of it that I pulled tightly around my shoulder to halt the bleeding a bit.  
The others argued about what to do next as I saw a figure sneak up to Ori. Dwalin saw it too, so I knew I wasn't hallucinating. He charged at the shadow with a large stick.

The man shot it right between his hands. Kili grabbed a stone to throw. That was shot out of his hand. I grabbed the dagger from my sword's sheath but dropped it as a pang of pain shot through my shoulder. I fell to my knees, hissing as I pressed my hand to the wound.

You know sometimes when you put your hand on a place that hurts and it immediately feels a bit better? The opposite was true now. It burned.

"Do it again, and you're dead," threathened the man. I grabbed the dagger I had dropped and put it back in the sheath. 

"Might not take much longer if you just wait around," I muttered to myself. Balin had noticed a barge behind the man and started bartering to rent it. Meanwhile, I dug my hand under my clothing to reach the wound better and chanted another healing spell. This one had no effect either.

The arrow was poisoned, that could be the only explanation as to why the spells didn't work. The wound wasn't crazy deep but the arrowhead had been quite big. It looked more like a halfhearted stabwound than a true striking arrow, but it hurt more than both combined.

I went over to the river side and tried to get the wound clean, but I couldn't really reach it. "Guys! I'll be back in a minute!" I called over my shoulder. Then I went behind a bush that overlooked a bend in the river. There I pulled off my tunic and the strap of cloth that I put around my shoulder. I also got rid of the bandage that I used so my breasts wouldn't block the reach of my sword.

When I was properly bare chested, I slipped into the river and carefully rinsed the wound, there was no sign of infection yet, so at least that was a positive.

"Auntie-" I heard Kili begin to yell. He then let out an oof as if he were roughly elbowed in the side.  
"Dawn! Where are you? We need you to do something!" I heard Thorin yell.  
"I'll be there in a bit, don't come down here!" I incoherently yelled back. 

"What?" 

The cloth was too far away to reach in time, so, frustrated at this I was, I resigned to keeping my back to Thorin and sinking into the river until my chin.  
"I said don't come down here, I am-"  
I got cut off by some branches breaking. "Oh," Thorin's voice sounded too close now. I guess we were even now, from back in Rivendell.

"Naked," I finished embarrassedly.  
I turned my head to see Thorin still standing in the bush, rooted to the spot with a very red face. Trying very hard not to avert his eyes from mine.  
I motioned for him to turn around, which, thankfully, he did. I awkwardly grabbed my tunic and put it on. It wasn't really the right order but I put the bandage over the tunic before I realised that I still needed to bind my wound and struggled getting the cloth under. I tried to tie my corset but gave up about halfway through and put the dagger that belong there on my belt. Then I grabbed Thorin's coat. "I needed to do something?" I asked embarrassedly, walking up to Thorin.  
He just cleared his throat and motioned over his shoulder and walked back. I followed him.

"Ah, there she is. Dawn come over here," Balin beckoned me.  
Fili and Kili chuckled and whistled when they saw how red both our faces were. Whatever, Thorin could deal with that now.  
"You see, our companion here, is wounded and she needs medical aid."  
"It is not that bad, Balin, really."  
The man likely heard a slurring in my voice, or he saw the watered-down blood seeping out of my tunic under Thorin's coat, or the way I had dressed myself. "No, it looks quite bad, how did you get it?"

I looked at Balin whose face seemed to bid me not to give him too many details.  
"It is quite embarrassing. I don't really want to talk about it. I guess I do need a doctor to look at it." I myself thought it was quite the heroic tale, if you leave out the whole prison escape part.

My head was spinning and I went to sit down for a bit while Balin bartered further. He eventually said that we would pay double for him getting us into town unseen. The man argued no further and let us on the barge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There were no request of the porn but I'm gonna post it sometime anyway because I'm actually sort of proud of myself.


	19. My urge to kill rises to the moon and beyond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Googles: boat parts.
> 
> My sailor grandfather is very disappointed in me. :')

I sat down on the deck, leaning against the raised platform where the bargeman was guiding the boat over the lake. I dropped my head and breathed heavily. I tried to heal the wound again, but it just wouldn't work. The arrow was definitely poisoned and I didn't know any spells that I could use on myself to stop poison. Then I thought of the gifting of immortatily. That was before I realised that giving my immortality to myself would probably not work. That's when I cursed the poison a thousand times.

"What is your name? Mine is Dawn," I asked the man. My voice was weak. It was slurred with pain but I tried to keep focused on something, as to not faint.   
"Bard. And you still do not sound alright."  
"I'll be alright then. It has to wear off sooner or later."

Bard nodded and veered away from an old ruin sticking out of the water. Making the boat rock a bit.  
"What are you trying to do, drown us?" Thorin retorted angrily.  
"I was born and bred on these waters, master Dwarf. If I wanted to drown you, I would not do it here," Bard said calmy.  
"Oh I have enough of this lippy lakeman. I say we throw him over the side and be done with him," Dwalin grumbled, not even trying to keep his voice down. Bilbo looked at him, slightly pissed.   
"Oh, Bard, his name's Bard," he huffed.  
"How'd you know?"  
"Uh, Dawn asked him."  
"I don't care what he calls himself, I don't like him," Dwalin muttered to Thorin.

"We don't have to like him, we simply have to pay him," Balin said. "Come on now, lads, turn out your pockets."   
I tossed him my entire bag of coins with my good arm, it came about ten feet short though. I got up shakily. The bleeding in my shoulder had lessened a bit, it still hadn't stopped, but I wasn't worried that I'd drop dead because of blood loss anytime soon.  
"Are you really sure you're alright?" Kili asked. "You should have let me take the arrow."  
"I am fine Kili, really. Elves are quite resistant to poison. Had you taken the arrow, you would have been dead before sunrise tomorrow, if it hadn't pierced any vital organs already."  
"But, you are small, for an Elf. Are you sure it won't affect you?"  
"Oh, it's affecting me alright. I feel very drunk and I can't even see what's a few meters off the bow, so you'll have keep me from making stupid decisions," I tried to joke, but my pained voice seemed to drain the fun out of it. Kili was still trying to be a good sport though.   
"Stupider than normal you mean?"  
That was highly unfair, I made the wisest decisions around here. I think.  
"Off the bow is mostly fog," he added in an effort to console me. 

"How do we know he won't betray us?" whispered Dwalin to Thorin.  
"We don't," he answered. I stumbled to the bow of the barge. Looking in the distance but seeing nothing but a grey haze of the fog Kili described.

"There's, um, just a problem: we're ten coins short," reported Balin, who had been counting the gold.  
"Did you take mine? They're- over there, somewhere," I gestured vaguely. Balin nodded, or at least, I think he did. He was slightly too far away to see properly.  
"Gloin. Come on. Give us what you have," Thorin ordered.  
"Don't look to me. I have been bled dry by this venture! And what have I seen for my investment? Naught but misery and grief and-"

"I got shot by a poison arrow and Thorin almost died. Now please pay," I interupted his rambling, turning around to face him and nearly falling in the process.  
Was this poison designed to make Elves embarrass themselves to death or something?

Gloin hadn't stopped talking because of my interruption. He stopped when he saw that all the others had slowly stood up and were looking at something in the distance. We both followed their gaze. Through the thinning fog, we saw the Lonely Mountain. It was even more impressive up close. The way the light reflected of the snow and made it one blurry bright spot in my vision was lovely. 

"Bless my beard. Take it. Take all of it," Gloin sounded emotional. I respected that. He pulled out a small sack of coins that he had withheld earlier and handed it to Balin. Bilbo coughed and gestured his head to Bard, who was approaching from the stern.  
"The money, quick, give it to me!" he said urgently.  
"We'll pay you when we get our provisions, but not before," Thorin refused.  
"If you value your freedom, you'll do as I say. There are guards ahead," he warned.

When Thorin made no move to do as Bard said I intervened. "For the love of Arda, do as he says!" I ordered. Thorin looked at me worried, then past me and then looked ready to tear his beard out. He nodded. Bard ordered the Dwarves and Bilbo to get in the barrels. He said that I should stay on the deck, hide the bloodstain and try to stand upright. He was going to pretend that his youngest was severely ill and needed an Elvish healer. I did as he said. I probably looked more like a half sloshed witch doctor Bard had pulled out of the lake than a sophisticated Elven healer from the capital of the forest. That was what I felt like anyway. I shifted Thorin's coat so my torn up tunic wasn't visible and most of my weapons were concealed. 

Bard had hopped off the barge and talked to a man on the dock. He pointed at the barrels and shook hands with the man. Then a large quantity of fish was poured in the barrels. Bard jumped back on and poled his barge to a gate. One of the Dwarves complained. I kicked his barrel as I walked past. I nearly fell again but there was only Bard to see that. "Shut it, we're approaching the tollgate," I hissed and went to stand next to Bard.

"Remember, you don't speak the Common Tongue," Bard hissed at me.  
"What healer doesn't speak the common tongue?" I hissed back.  
"You."  
A half sloshed lake witch who used to live in a very remote part of Mirkwood. 

Even those Trolls spoke Common. 

The gatekeeper stopped us. "Halt! Goods inspection. Papers, please. Oh, it's you, Bard."  
"Morning, Percy," Bard greeted him.  
"Anything to declare?" Percy asked.  
"Nothing, but that I am cold and tired, and ready for home," Bard declared.  
"You and me both," agreed the gatekeeper.  
Bard handed him some papers and Percy went inside to stamp them. Bard seemed to be on edge as he looked around, which made me nervous as well. Percy came back. "Here we are. All in order." 

"Not so fast," said a sort of smug looking man as he stepped out of shadows. A small platoon of lake town guards followed him. He took Bard's papers and inspected them himself. I didn't like him and thought that he would look nicer with a dagger sticking out of his head already, but I tried very hard to hold my composure. The man moved to inspecting Bard's load. "Consignment of empty barrels from the Woodland Realm. Only, they're not empty, are they, Bard?" he asked rhetorically, tossing Bard's papers to the wind. "If I recall correctly, you're licensed as a bargeman, not a fisherman," he stated as he grabbed a fish. He held it front of him, taunting Bard with it.   
I did not like this man at all. People who abuse their authority just rub me the wrong way. I opened my mouth to speak but Bard beat me to it. "That's none of your business," he simply stated.  
"Wrong, it's the master's business, which makes it my business," the man replied smugly.  
"Oh come on, Alfrid, have a heart. The people need to eat."  
"These fish are illegal."  
Illegal food?

I realised that my hand was resting on the dagger in the sheath of my sword. I quickly let it go to prevent a dagger flying into Alfrid's face. I told myself it was for the best but I highly doubt it was.  
Alfrid threw the fish he was holding over his shoulder into the water. "Empty the barrels over the side," he ordered his soldiers. I quickly spoke to intervene. Bard and I had had an agreement: that I could only speak Sindarin and he would translate. Only he didn't speak one word of Sindarin so I could pretty much say whatever I wanted.  
"~Please do not, my friends are hidden in there and we have a deadline I would hate to miss because we spend another two months behind bars.   
Would you waste perfectly good food because a not fisherman brought in seventeen barrels worth of fish that's illegal to sell? If they were poisonous I would understand that, but these aren't.   
What more to say? I've got nothing. Take it away Bard,~" I said bard as in, the profession. He might not have a way to incorporate his own name into the story he had planned out.   
I think I managed to say it all without slurring. If I didn't, Alfrid must have thought nothing of it. Bard gave me the stinkeye for saying that fucking much before he 'translated'. 

"You would rather see the people of this town starve to death than letting them buy supposedly illegal fish? No wonder there is need of an Elvish healer," he said with an expression that made it seem like he was embarrassed saying it. "Her words, not mine." Alfrid wrinkled his nose at me. Before he could say anything, Bard cut him off. "Folk in this town are struggling. Times are hard. Food is scarce."

I was growing a bit uneasy with the barrels being emptied. I didn't want my boys to be discovered. "That's not my problem," Alfrid spat.   
"And when the people hear the Master is dumping fish back in the lake, when the rioting starts, will it be your problem then?" Bard argued.  
Bard and Alfrid had an intense staring contest for a moment. Finally, Alfrid gave in. "Stop," he ordered his men with a raised hand. The soldiers stopped tipping the barrels over and returned to the building. "Ever the people's champion, eh, Bard? Protector of the common folk? You might have their favor now, bargeman, but it won't last," Alfrid drawled. Then he stomped off.

"Raise the gate!" called Percy. Bard moved the barge into the town. Alfrid shouted after us. "The Master has his eye on you; you'd do well to remember. We know where you live."  
"It's a small town Alfrid; everyone knows where everyone lives," Bard called back nonchalantly. His knuckles turned white on the pole though, so I saw that he was on edge.   
I had never been in Lake Town before, only in Dale. From what I could see, it looked quite poor and ramshackle. It was made entirely out of wood and as the name suggested, lay in the middle of a lake. I felt my wound again, the cold of this place was doing it favours, but the filthy air was definitely not. Also, my exposed stomach was freezing.

"I do not like that man," I told Bard. He just chuckled.   
"I've yet to meet someone who does." He docked his barge and kicked over one of the barrels. I followed his example, but only just managed to push it over. Dwalin poked head out before Bard could kick over his barrel.   
"Get your hands off me," he growled at him. I rolled my eyes and sort of limped over. I gave Dwalin a blank look before tried I pushing his barrel over. He put his hand on my good shoulder and climbed out himself though. He got what I was going for and that's what matters. The remaining Dwarves and Bilbo struggled out. Looking greasy and slimy from the fish. I already didn't really like the smell of the town but now I pulled a face to show my distaste for the smell. Fili saw and threw a fish at me. I dodged it luckily, but I did stumble over and fell into Bard, who helped me upright again. He glared at Fili.

"No, it's alright. I'll get him back," I told him as I pushed myself off him.   
He turned to a haughty looking fisherman and slipped him a coin. "You didn't see them, they were never here. The fish you can have for nothing," he bribed, then bid us to follow him. When we had been walking for a while, a boy ran up to us. I didn't really know human standards, but if he were an Elf, he looked to be about forty, forty-five years old. Not quite a man, but not a child either. "Da! Our house, it's being watched," he told his father with panic in his eyes. Bard looked at Thorin, deep in thought.

When Bard had sent the Dwarves and Bilbo to go via a different route. His son asked him who I was. "A healer from the forest, for your sister," he explained with a wink. "She doesn't speak the Common Tongue."   
The boy looked at me, his eyes widened when he saw my shoulder, the coat had fallen down a bit. Thorin's shoulders were broader than mine. "She looks like she needs a healer herself," he said.   
"I found her like that."   
"Shut up," I said as I walked off. "Which way?" I asked. Bard strode past me with his son, and I followed close behind.

We reached Bard's house, but before we entered, he tossed an apple to two fishermen. "You can tell the master that I'm done for the day."   
When we were inside, two girls ran up to their father and hugged him. "Da! Where have you been?" asked the youngest.   
"Father, there you are. I was worried."  
Bard hugged his daughters back, before he handed his bag to the oldest girl. "Here's something to eat. Dawn?"  
"Yes?"  
"If you go down those stairs, you can let your friends in. Knock three times on the wall." 

I nodded and went down the stairs. It was a toilet. I knocked on the wall beside it thrice and Dwalin stuck his head out.  
"Someone does not look happy," I chirped as I pushed the seat up.   
"Shut it and move, will ye?" he grumbled. I went back up the stairs, with the men following me.

I went over to Oin, as I knew little about non-magical healing. Oin was hard of hearing so I touched his shoulder to gain his attention. "Oin, could you look at this? I can't heal it. The arrow was poisoned."  
He nodded and got back up. His face reached up to my shoulder. I took off the strip off my tunic and put it down on the table. Then I shrugged off the coat and lowered my tunic so that my wounded shoulder was bare.  
He examined it, carefully dabbing the blood away with a rag and warm water that Bard's daughters had provided. I hissed when he touched the wound. Poison normally wouldn't effect me this much, but this particular kind made it impossible for the bleeding to stop completely. I also felt lightheaded and dizzy. Oin told me that was not good and I should have told him sooner. The wound itself looked very nasty but Oin said that my body was trying to get the poison out the way it came in.   
He had asked Bain to get some Kingsfoil. I had no clue what kind of plant that was, but it must be something like a weed here, because Bain was back quite quickly.  
Oin chewed up some of the Kingsfoil and pressed it to the wound. It stung, like a bitch. Oin assured me it was supposed to sting, that that meant it was working. "Leave this on until tomorrow, then you should be able to close the wound yourself, if not, well..."  
"I'm fucked," I nodded. "Thank you, Oin. I am in your debt."  
He waved it off. "Nah, you brought the grump back from the dead," he whispered, but still loud enough for everyone to hear. He indicated Thorin with a nod of his head. "We are even."

I smiled at him as I pulled the tunic back over my shoulder. The youngest girl handed me a mug of tea. I took it from her and gave her a smile. "Are you an Elf?" she asked curiously.   
"No, I am a lake witch your father fished up. Those idiots are my friends," I indicated the Dwarves. She giggled. 

"What is your name? Mine is Tilda."  
"I am Dawn."  
She frowned. "Doesn't sound very Elvish."  
"It is what my name means, if you shorten it. My name is Kahlahari. It means fading stars."  
"Kahlahari..." she repeated, she murdered the pronunciation but I didn't correct her. "Can I use Dawn?"  
I smiled at her again. "Of course you can, Tilda."  
"Oh! Before I forget! Da asked me to give you one of mum's old cloaks!"  
"No no no, I can't possibly take that!" I exclaimed, but she'd already ran off. Not too much later she came back with an old hooded cloak, it was still in pristine condition, the silver embroidery on the bottom hadn't even frayed. "Da said that we don't need it. And you walk around without sleeves and your tummy bare in this weather," she told me off, wagging her little finger.

I thanked her and gave her a pat on the head. She ran off again to help her sister. I downed my tea in one go, then I grabbed Thorin's coat and brought it to him. "I think, that this looks better on you. There is no need for you to freeze to death before we reach the mountain," I chuckled. He took his coat and put it back on. He thanked me.  
"Sit down, you've lost a lot of blood."  
"I'll be fine, Thorin. The Kingsfoil is doing its job and my whole shoulder is bandaged."   
"I would still like you to sit down," he insisted. I sat down the armrest of the chair Balin was sitting in and leaned against the wall. Thorin looked at Balin with a pleading look in his eyes and Balin asked me change places.   
"Will you all stop mothering me? It takes more than a little poison to get rid of me."  
"Negligence would be a good start down the road," Balin said as he got up.   
"But I haven't neglected it."   
"Dawn, please."   
"Fine." I got up and shot Thorin a glare when he shot closer to catch in the event that my light headedness would make me fall down. 

I looked past him out of the window. I saw a big sort of crossbow. "That's Dwarvish isn't it?" I pointed out the window.   
Thorin turned around and looked to where I was pointing. "Aye, your vision is getting better again. It's a Dwarvish Wind-Lance," he said solemnly.  
"You look like you've seen a ghost," Bilbo said, looking at Thorin in cornern.   
"He has. The last time we saw such a weapon, a city was on fire. It was the day the dragon came," Balin explained. I turned a bit in the chair to face Balin Balin and Bilbo came to sit on the other armrest. We both sensed a story incoming. Balin chuckled at our antics. "The day that Smaug destroyed Dale. Girion, the Lord of the city, rallied his bowmen to fire upon the beast. But a dragon's hide is tough, tougher than the strongest armor. Only a black arrow, fired from a wind-lance, could have pierced the Dragon's hide, and few of those arrows were ever made. His store was running low when Girion made his last stand."

I had heard of the Dragon attack on Dale, but only that a Dragon had attacked it and I had seen that the city now lies in ruin, but hadn't heard the details. "Had the aim of Men been true that day, much would have been different," Thorin turned back to us.

Bard approached us too. "You speak as if you were there."  
"All Dwarves know the tale."  
Bain leaned against the table. He had been listening to Balin's story as well. "Then you would know that Girion hit the dragon. He loosened a scale under the left wing. One more shot and he would have killed the beast."   
Dwalin laughed. "That is a fairy story, lad. Nothing more."


	20. I have fourteen mothers.

I draped my new cloak over myself, as it was getting cold. I wrapped it around my body, covering my exposed skin. It was a tad long, but also nice and warm, though I was still shivering slightly. Thorin strode up to Bard. "You took our money. Where are the weapons?"  
"Wait here," Bard bid us.

Thorin, Balin, Fili and Kili were standing together, they discussed quietly, not wanting Bard to hear it. But I of course, did. My hearing was getting better again as well.  
"Tomorrow begin the last days of autumn," Thorin stated.  
"Durin's Day falls morn after next. We must reach the mountain before then," Balin explained.  
"And if we do not? If we fail to find the hidden door before that time?" Kili asked.  
"Then this quest has been for nothing," Fili concluded.

Bard returned with a package in his hands. He lay it on the table and opened it. I got up to get a better look, but as I did, I started felling very dizzy again. That was probably why Thorin insisted I take a seat. Luckily, no one saw me trying to steady myself.  
In the package were makeshift weapons. The Dwarves picked them up and looked at them in disgust. "What is this?" Thorin didn't sound impressed. He was holding something that looked like a repurposed fishing tool.  
"A Pike-hook. Made from an old harpoon," Bard explained.  
So it actually was a repurposed fishing tool.

"And this?" Kili didn't sound impressed either. He was holding a one handed hammer with a pointy end. It didn't look very durable. "A crowbill, we call it, fashioned from a smithy's hammer. It's heavy in hand, I grant, but in defense of your life, these will serve you better than none," Bard explained again. Thorin and Dwalin looked at each other. Neither of them looked happy. I wasn't surprised and I quite agreed with them.

"We paid you for weapons. Iron-forged swords and axes!" Gloin complained.   
"It's a joke!" Bofur threw his makeshift weapon back on the table, the others followed suit. I saw Fili eyeing on of my daggers.   
"Don't you dare," I warned him.

"You won't find better outside the city armoury. All iron-forged weapons are held there under lock and key," Bard defended himself, not with the 'weapons' but verbally. Thorin and Dwalin glanced at each other out of the corners of their eyes. I didn't trust that they were up to any good.

"Thorin," Balin called for his attention. "Why not take what's been offered and go? I've made do with less, so have you. I say we leave now."  
"You're not going anywhere," Bard said. He looked like something had clicked in his mind. I didn't think it was in our favour. 

I glared at him. Bard swallowed nervously. I might not be the strongest, or the best fighter among us. But damn if I wasn't intimidating. Even Thorin thought so. Or that I was an angry kitten, take your pick. The fact that I was the only obviously armed one among us probably helped. Bilbo had his sword too but I don't think Bard found him very scary.

"What did you say?" growled Dwalin.  
"There's spies watching this house and probably every dock and wharf in the town. You must wait till nightfall."

That sounded reasonable. I sat back down. My shoulder still hurt and my mind was still a bit foggy. at least my senses were getting better again. The poison was wearing off. The Dwarves settled down. Biding their time until nightfall. Bard went outside.

I wrapped my new cloak around myself even thighter and curled up in the chair. I tried to get some sleep, but it wouldn't come. So I just focused on appearing fine. It might not fool others, but I might fool myself into feeling better.  
I felt Bilbo's hand on my forehead. "You're sweating," he observed as he wiped his hand on his trousers.  
"It'll pass," I said absentmindedly.

-~-

When sunset rolled around, the Dwarves went out, ignoring Bain's protests. I wanted to come too, but Oin had forbidden me and told me to rest. Because the bleeding had just about stopped and he didn't want me to do anything that might open the wound again. Thorin agreed with him but I didn't.

I waited a bit, pacing a few steps back and forth. "Are you actually going to listen to them?" Bain asked in surprise.

"Nope," I chirped while making to go after the Company anyway, a few paces behind them. Oin found out when I swore a bit too loudly after having nearly tripped over an uneven plank, and looked dissapointed in me. He didn't send me back. Not that I would have listened if he did. We reached the armoury when darkness had fallen. Some of the Dwarves formed a pyramid against the wall, leading to a second-floor window. I told Thorin that I could just jump up and throw weapons down. Oin forbade me to do so. Nori went first over the stair of Dwarves. Taking a running start and throwing himself through the window. Bilbo went next. Soon, everyone but me who was not in the Dwarf stair was in the armoury. I stood guard. More like sat guard on a pole. Very saltily.

I heard a very loud clatter of weapons. I whipped around and saw that Kili had tripped over a plank that jutted out a bit. In the distance, I heard guardsmen cry out. "Get up, let's go. They're onto us!" I hissed. The Dwarves who were outside began to run, I ran in front. We didn't get farther than a few paces as we came to a skidding halt when two guards blocked the path, pointing spears at us. A third man grabbed my arms quickly before I could draw my weapons and turned me against his chest. He pressed a dagger to my throat. I pressed the back of my head into the man's chest, eyeing the dagger warily. "Watch the shoulder!" Kili yelled at him. I shrugged with my good shoulder to show that I was okay, if not mildly wary of the knife at my throat. The man holding me saw that as attempted escape and pressed the dagger further against my throat. It wasn't that sharp but it still drew blood. I tried to press my head deeper into the man's chest to get away from the razor's edge but I couldn't.

The guards dragged us to a big house. I tried to cooperate, but that was hard with the knife that was still at my throat. Eventually, I got frustrated. "I can walk by myself without a knife to my throat, you know?" I hissed at the man who was still holding me. He ignored me and I sent a string of Elvish curse words at him until we came to a halt by the mansion.  
I saw Alfrid stick his head out the door. My mood was now even worse than it already was. Alfrid went back inside and the guards arranged us in front of the house. I rubbed my wrists and glared the daggers I didn't dare reach for at the guard who finally released me. I held the cloak in front of my stomach. Not only to shield it from the cold but also from the eyes of people who had gathered around.

A big man came running out of the builing, still putting on his coat. He was a lot fatter than many of the townspeople so I guessed that he was the leader around here. Or just a lot richer than the rest of town. "What is the meaning of this?" he yelled in panic.   
"We caught 'em stealing weapons, sire," reported the man who had dragged me. I noticed that his uniform was slightly fancier than that of the other guards. He must be their captain.   
"Ah. Enemies of the state, then," the master had calmed a bit.

"This is a bunch of mercenaries if there ever was, sire," Alfrid spoke. I reached for a dagger but gasped slightly when I felt a spear against my back. I slowly dropped my hand.  
I had forgotten about the crowd of people around. I probably wouldn't come out alive myself if I killed Alfrid now.

Blast.

"Hold your tongue. You do not know to whom you speak. This is no common criminal; this is Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror!" Dwalin yelled in anger. He gestured at Thorin, who stepped forward. I heard the crowd murmur in amazement.   
"We are the Dwarves of Erebor," Thorin stated. "We have come to reclaim our homeland. I remember this town and the great days of old. Fleets of boats lay at the harbor, filled with silks and fine gems. This was no forsaken town on a lake! This was the center of all trade in the North."

Thorin was trying to earn the people's favour. So far, it seemed to be working. "I would see those days return. I would relight the great forges of the dwarves and send wealth and riches flowing once more from the halls of Erebor!" he went on.

The crowd applauded Thorin. The master looked to be deep in thought.  
Suddenly, Bard's voice came from the crowd. "Death! That is what you will bring upon us. Dragon-fire and ruin. If you awaken that beast, it will destroy us all."

Alright, good point, but shut up.

The mood in the crowd changed to one of anxious muttering. Thorin seemed to think for a second, glaring at Bard before losing the glare, and sweeping his gaze across the people. 

"You can listen to this naysayer, but I promise you this; If we succeed, all will share in the wealth of the mountain. You will have enough gold to rebuild Esgaroth ten times over!"

That was a lot of dramatic flare and... a big promise. I hoped he knew what he was getting himself into. The crowd seemed to doubt him as well.

"Why should we take you on your word, eh? We know nothing about you. Who here could vouch for your character," Alfrid questioned.  
"Me!" Bilbo and I answered at the same time. It was probably best if Bilbo vouched, so I gave him the stage. "I'll vouch for him. Now we have travelled far with these Dwarves through great danger. And if Thorin Oakenshield gives his word, he will keep it."

The crowd was exited again. Thorin looked moved and the master looked pleased. "All of you! Listen to me! You must listen! Have you forgotten what happened to Dale?" The people quieted down again. "Have you forgotten those who died in the firestorm?" I could hear a few shouts of 'no!'. "And for what purpose? The blind ambition of a mountain-king so riven by greed, he could not see beyond his own desire!"

Bard, Mellon nîn, fuck off with your good points.

Thorin and Bard glared at eachother again. The crowd grew louder, in whose favour I couldn't tell. The master hastily stepped forward. "Now, now, we must not, any of us, be too quick to lay blame. Let us not forget that it was Girion, lord of Dale, your ancestor, who failed to kill the beast!" he pointed acusingly at Bard, who looked away. 

I found it strange that someone favoured strangers over their own people, but this time it worked in our favour, so I didn't mind it.  
"It's true, sire. We all know the story: arrow after arrow he shot, each one missing its mark," Alfrid spoke.

Whose side is he on? 

A spear was pricked in my back again as a pre-emptive warning not to try anything.  
"I'm not stupid," I hissed at the guard. I was highly offended when the guard didn't agree with me and kept his weapon where it was.

The crowd was yelling angrily at Bard. He looked around in desperation. He then walked forward up to Thorin. "You have no right, no right to enter that mountain," he said in a raised voice.   
"I have the only right," Thorin countered in his deep voice. He then turned to the master. "I speak to the Master of the men of the Lake. Will you see the prophecy fulfilled? Will you share in the great wealth of our people?"

The crowd was silent, waiting for what their master would say.  
"What say you?" urged Thorin.  
The master thought about it for a bit, then smiled and waved his finger at Thorin. "I say unto you... welcome! Welcome and thrice welcome, King under the Mountain!" He opened his arms to emphasize his statement. His smile was so wide that I thought his face was going to burst. The crowd cheered as Thorin climbed the steps to the master's house. When he reached the top, he turned around again. He and Bard went back to glaring at eachother.


	21. Dawn used puppy eyes. It's not very effective.

We slept in the master's house for the remainder of the night. This was the first real bed I'd slept on since Rivendell and though it was not as comfortable, I slept very well.   
The following morning, we were led down to the main docks, where a boat was waiting for us. We were fully decked in weapons and clean clothing. I got little armor by request, only bracers and a leather chest piece that was more substantial than a corset. Furthermore, I got clothing warmer than I was previously wearing. Which wasn't very hard in my case. I hadn't been smart enough to go journeying with more than one shirt and the one I had wouldn't even be a good cleaning rag anymore.

The shirt I got was long sleeved and fur-lined, and instead of a loose corset, I got an extra belt where I could house the daggers that used to be in my boots. Speaking of which, my new ones were also fur-lined and comfortable. I kept the cloak that I got from Bard. In contrast to the Dwarves, I didn't receive a lot of weapons. Only a sword, I already had the rest. We all looked quite regal.

"Dawn, you must stay here," Thorin said as I was about to board the boat.  
"And why is that?" I asked him. Anger bubbling in my chest already.  
"You're wounded and you've lost a lot of blood, you'll slow us down."  
"I've nearly completely recovered already and I did not go with you all this way, to not enter Erebor," I said stubbornly as I hopped into the boat, grabbing an oar. "Now get your royal butt in the boat, your highness." I feigned a curtesy which made the boat wobble.

I only used his title when I was cross with him. I don't know why, I felt it held a certain power. Thorin got in the boat with a grumble and everyone started paddling. We waved at the people of Lake town until we were out of range. I put down my oar and did what I had been longing to do for a few days. I placed my hand over the wound and started chanting the healing spell for open wounds. I gritted my teeth against the pain as it grew closed, and sighed in relief when it was done. I traced the white scar with my fingers before I realised we were on schedule and began rowing again. Oin looked at me expectantly. "Officially unfucked," I smiled. The pain was gone, I could see well again and I didn't feel dizzy anymore. The bloodloss would right itself very soon too. Elven anatomy didn't allow for rapid bloodloss so as compensation it comes back very quickly. You can lose a near fatal amount and be fine in a matter of two days. Relatively speaking. 

Very soon, the ruins of Dale came into view. The giddy feeling from healing myself went away when I saw the ghost of the city I used to visit often.  
"What is this place?" asked Bilbo, who was also looking at it.  
"It was once the city of Dale. Now it is a ruin. The desolation of Smaug," Balin told him.  
"I used to come here quite often, before Smaug destroyed it," I said. "Closest I was allowed to get to Erebor."  
"Which you completely ignored if I remember correctly," Balin chuckled.  
"Up until father dearest caught me at the forges playing around with swords instead of being the intimidating Elven general that I was supposed to be three times in a row, yes."

-~-

Getting into Erebor was quite easy. The guards at the gate knew who I was and that my father was here too. I never really had to state my business because of my title. They would have assumed I was on official business. 

Boy, were they wrong. 

The real art of having a good time was evading my father and his entourage on their diplomatic visit while I made my way to the forges and forge markets. I knew the quickest route to it by heart now, but it still took me some time because I had to be on the lookout for my kin. I would have stood out if there weren't a few humans also making their way to the market. 

While I waited behind a barrel until the whole royal party had passed, I overheard two Dwarven ladies talking about the king's newborn grandson. Apparently, everyone was allowed to come see him, even us.  
I had never seen a baby Dwarf before, and while I'm sure he would have been adorable, there were swords to be messed around with at the forges. I was sure I wouldn't regret it one bit a hundred and twenty or so years later.

I finally reached the market and immediately went to the first stall to admire the beautiful swords on display. A young Dwarf saw me admiring them. Now that I looked back on it, I think that was Balin in his younger years. Back when he was barely an adult.

"Want to give 'em a swing, lass?" he asked me. He either didn't recognise me or realised that a foreign general wouldn't be strolling around a smithing market alone if she was on offical business.   
"Why yes, I do." He gave me a bluish sword and he himself grabbed one too, we sparred in a special section until his boss told Balin to stop playing around with the Elven general and to get back to work. Balin let me buy the sword at a discount. And I was back to stealthily browsing the market. I knew my father's diplomatic delegation wouldn't be around here but being on your toes never hurt anyone. 

I only encountered them when I returned to Dale. My father was waiting impatiently and my brother stood next to him with a shit eating grin.  
"~Have fun, did we?~" asked Thranduil rather shortly.  
"~Well if you're going to ask so nicely, I'll tell you I rather enjoyed myself, father,~" I answered in a tone that might be considered rude. Thranduil and I did not get along well. Legolas had long since given up being the mediator and left us to it.  
That was the last time I was allowed to come to Dale. Even though I had been a grown ass adult and a public official for centuries.

-~-

Having given it a bit more thought now, I deeply regretted not going to see the baby Dwarf prince, because as it turns out, that was Thorin. Imagine the ways I could have teased him about that now.

"Why weren't you allowed in the mountain? You were an important figure in Mirkwood," asked Fili.  
"I don't know actually. Thranduil was probably afraid I might catch a beard, or something." Catching a beard was actually a sort of insult to Elves who went and married a Dwarf or fell in love with one. But given that we usually said it in Elvish to other Elves, the meaning was lost on the other races.

Oh fuck! I caught a beard myself! Well, not a full beard. It's more like I caught not shaving for a few days. I just felt comfortable around Thorin and wanted to be close to him. Even though he's an idiot. That barely counts as a beard.   
It's not that I hadn't disappointed the Elvish race in every way posible already, or cared enough to try and be more Elflike, anyway.

"Why don't you call him 'dad'?" asked Bofur.  
I smiled, but I knew it didn't reach my eyes. "He doesn't deserve it." Bilbo put his hand on my back. "It's fine. It was seven decades ago that I made that decision. I've come to terms with it."

We reached the shore and climbed out of the boat. Just in time too, my arms were starting to get sore.   
"The sun will soon reach midday; let's find the hidden door into the mountain before it sets. This way," ordered Thorin once we'd reached a place that overlooked the entirety of Dale. 

The view would have been beautiful back when Dale was still, well, Dale. Now it was just sad.   
"Wait... is this the overlook? Gandalf said to meet him here. On no account were we-" Bilbo got interrupted by Thorin, who sounded quite angry.   
"Do you see him? We have no time to wait upon the wizard. We're on our own."  
Was he still in a mood to make self destructive decisions? This time I did agree though. We hadn't counted on being stuck in prison for two months, Gandalf had likely given up on us. We were on our own now.

He could have left a message to confirm that though.

Thorin turned and walked off. Bilbo blinked in disbelief at his rudeness.  
"Come!" ordered Thorin. The Dwarves all followed. I rolled my eyes dramatically at Bilbo and indicated we should follow as well with a nod of my head. 

We scoured the mountain side for a hidden entrance. So far, we only found places where I would have put one.  
"Anything?" I heard Thorin pant from a little way down the mountain.  
"Nothing!" Dwalin called back.

Bilbo and I were together. "That sculpture kind of looks like Thorin," Bilbo said, pointing at a massive statue carved into the rock.  
"Yeah, he has the same disapproving glare, much larger beard though," I joked. Then I noticed a stair way carved into the sculpture.

"Hey, This might be something!" I yelled over the ledge.  
"Up here!" Bilbo followed suit.  
"You have very keen eyes, master Baggins and Dawn," Thorin said once he'd made his way up to us.  
I gestured at the statue. "Or the rest of you were blind. This thing is enormous," I said with a humourous grin. Thorin just looked at me in disapproval. Which made him resemble the statue even more. I snorted in laughter, biting my lip trying to keep it contained. My efforts didn't impress Thorin. He ordered everyone to make their way up the stairs.

That was easier said than done. At least for the guys. I was up in a couple of leaps. I sat down at the top of the stair, waiting for the rest. Thorin was the next to make it up.   
"Why didn't you go on? You are wasting time," he told me off.  
I just stared at him and frowned. Then I got up and walked over the axe-handle of the statue. Followed closely by the rest of the Company. I heard some of them complain about the long climb. I couldn't blame them, but they were wasting their breath.

When we finally reached the end of the trail, Thorin ran to the wall.   
"This must be it. The hidden door."  
The rest of us trudged up to the clearing as well. I didn't see any door, it was really well hidden, aside from the staircase leading up to it. 

"Let all those who doubted us rue this day!" If it were anyone else, they wouldn't have sounded impressed. But judging from this being Thorin, I dare say he was ecstatic.

Thorin held up his key and we all cheered him on.  
"Right. We have our key, which means that somewhere, there is a keyhole." Dwalin started inspecting the wall. Feeling it with his fingers, looking for the keyhole. I scanned it with my eyes, but it looked like an ordinary mountain wall. I could feel powerful magic coming from it though.

Thorin walked to the edge of the clearing and looked at the setting sun. "The last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole," he recited.  
He turned back to the wall with a puzzled look. The sun was sinking on the horizon fast now. Thorin became frantic.   
"Nori."

Nori went to the wall with a spoon and a cup. He put the cup to the wall and held his ear to it. Then he tapped the wall with the spoon. He shifted from one spot to another after every three taps. I held my ear to the wall too but realised soon I had no idea what I should be looking out for and now was not a great time for training. Meanwhile Dwalin was pushing at the wall.

"We're losing the light," Thorin reported.  
"Come on," Dwalin's voice sounded strained. He started kicking the wall.  
"Be quiet! I can't hear when you're thumping," Nori complained.  
"I can't find it. It's not here! It's not here," Dwalin sounded like he would break down soon. The sun was now just a sliver on the horizon. Surely this was the last light of Durin's day? Thorin made frantic gestures with his hands. 

"Break it down," he ordered.  
Dwalin, Gloin and Bifur charged at the wall with their weapons.  
"You'll only blunt your axes, Bilbo hates that!" I said as I scanned the wall by gliding the tip of my dagger over it, looking for a seam.

"Come on," Thorin encouraged us.  
"It's no good! The door's sealed. It can't be opened by force. There's a powerful magic on it," Balin said, making the Dwarves drop their weapons in disappointment. I tucked my knife back in the sheath and put both my hands on the wall. I felt a very powerful magic indeed and wasn't so sure I could break it. That didn't stop me from trying though. Gandalf had taught how to break magic seals, but he also warned me that it didn't work on a certain type of sealing magic. When I'd run through the whole spell, I realised this was that type of magic. The sun fell behind the mountains in the distance.

"No!" Thorin exclaimed. He stumbled to the door in haste, reading the instructions on the old map. "The last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole. That's what it says," he let his arms fall in defeat. "What did we miss?" he asked desperately.  
He walked up to Balin and repeated his question with a shaky voice. I felt really bad for him, although I was still slightly salty that he wanted to leave me behind.

"We've lost the light. There's no more to be done. We had but one chance," Balin explained. He was disappointed. As was everyone else. The Dwarves bowed their heads in despair and slowly walked back to the stairs. I followed them. Behind me, I heard the key clatter to the ground. Then Thorin followed behind me. Bilbo remained in the clearing, headstrong. 

"What are you going to do now?" I asked Thorin. He looked so depressed that I held his hand in case he wanted to take a tumble down the mountainside. That was the only reason, shut up.  
"I don't know," he admitted with a sniff. I squeezed his hand.  
"You'll think of something. I believe in you," I encouraged him. He made a sound to show he had heard me but it sounded so absentminded that I doubted if he had listened.  
I looked up at the skies and saw the moon though the clouds.

The moon...

My eyes widened and I let go of Thorin's hand to elbow him in the side, a bit too hard as he groaned in pain.   
"Thorin, the last light of Durin's day? What if it means the moon?" I suggested loudly so that everyone could hear. Thorin's eyes widened in realisation. Just then, I heard Bilbo call us back. He had figured it out too.  
"The keyhole! Come back! Come back! It's the light of the moon, the last moon of autumn!" He laughed triumphantly.

We ran back up. I reached the clearing first. I chucked a dagger at the key as it almost went flying down the mountain. It caught around the chain and the dagger stuck out in the gravel.   
"You'll want to be careful with that," I jested as I retrieved it. "We might still need it."

The rest of the Dwarves had reached the clearing as well . The keyhole shone in the moonlight. I pressed the key into Thorin's hand.   
"To you the honours," I smiled. He looked down at the key and then up to the door. He stuck the key in the hole and turned it. I heard a heavy lock click. Thorin pushed at the wall and a section of it revealed itself to be a door.

"Erebor," he said. He sounded really impressed. Then he looked back at me and motioned with his hand for me to go in.   
"Ladies first."   
I smiled at him. "Get your arse inside then, my queen," I said before pushing him in before me. Then I let all the other Dwarves pass. Bilbo pushed me in and I pulled him with me.

"I know these walls, this stone. You remember it, Balin. Chambers filled with golden light."  
Thorin ran his hand over the wall. His nephews looked around, very impressed. This was likely the first time they ever set foot in the mountain.

"I remember," said Balin with a voice filled with nostalgia.  
Nori pointed at a carved mural on the wall. On it was a throne sending out rays of light from a circle at the top. Gloin read the Khûzdul inscriptions that Bilbo and I couldn't read. "Herein lies the seventh kingdom of Durin's Folk. May the heart of the mountain unite all dwarves in defense of this home." Bilbo and I looked at it impressed.

Balin saw and explained it further. "The throne of the king."  
"What's that source of light above it, is that the Arkenstone?" I inquired.  
"Yes, the heart of the mountain."  
Bilbo didn't look any wiser. "Arkenstone... and what's that?" he asked.  
Thorin strode up to us. "That, Master Burglar, is why you are here." 

Balin and Bilbo walked into a tunnel leading the main halls. I wanted to get a look too, but Thorin held me back.  
I gave him my best puppyface and he looked conflicted. He ultimately decided against letting me follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, these chapters are long and exhaustive to spell/grammar check at 3 am.


	22. Fuck this noise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think chapter size is fairly inconsistent from this point on.

I cringed when I heard a loud knocking sound. It must have been Bilbo. Or, I hoped it was Bilbo. Fili noticed my reaction. "Can you hear what is going on down there?" he asked curiously.  
"More or less. Be better if I sat a bit closer though."  
Fili looked back at Thorin, who thought about it for a bit before he nodded. Fili's puppy-eyes, it seemed, were a lot more effective than my own. All of us moved further into Erebor. I went to stand with my back against the wall and listened carefully.

"Hear anything yet?" Gloin asked after what felt like ten seconds. I shook my head.  
I heard something fall loudly and reported it. The Dwarves looked at each other, trying to decide what to make of that. They must have heard that too. I heard a large amount of coins move. Then after a bit, a fuckton more. "Something is moving. Something big," I reported.  
"You don't think that would be the dragon, do you?" asked Ori.  
"Unless there is some other giant creature in there you'd like to tell me about now, it may as well be," I theorized with the Dwarves. 

"Shush, I'm hearing something," I said after a bit. "Well, thief, I smell you. I hear your breath. I feel your air. Where are you?" I heard a deep powerful voice say, I repeated to the Dwarves. They looked a mixture of shocked and scared but didn't say anything.  
"The Dragon is on the move," I reported and held my hand up to avoid getting replies.   
"Come now, don't be shy. Step into the light. Mmm, there is something about you, something you carry. Something made of gold, but far more... precious." I repeated when I heard the Dragon speak again, mimicking the very exaggerated way the Dragon said the word precious, holding the s just like he did.

The Dwarves didn't seem to know what to make of that either and stayed silent. "There you are, thief in the shadows," My eyes widened in shock when I heard it.   
"He's found Bilbo." I hissed and held up my hand to silence the Dwarves again. If Bilbo replied anything, I didn't catch it. Some of the Dwarves slapped their knees and went outside. Thorin went with them. I wanted to go too, but the majority of the Company was still here listening to my reports. They would still be a majority after I left. The whole situation with Bilbo and Smaug also worried me enough to stay put. If things got bad we would have to go down there and rescue Bilbo, and every second counts when you're on the run from a Dragon.

I heard a large amount of stuff shift again. "The Dragon's moving again." By now, the part of the Company that remained understood that I didn't want their commentary, so they stayed silent without me bidding them to.  
"And, do you now?" I repeated what Smaug said, pausing at each word, I was puzzled. "Don't know if I heard that right." I continued. I didn't catch Bilbo's response this time either.

"Do you think flattery will keep you alive?- I think Bilbo is playing for time again. -No, indeed. You seem familiar with my name, but I don't remember smelling your kind before. Who are you, and where do you come from, may I ask?" I moved closer to the end of the corridor, in case Bilbo needed a distraction to slip away. I fully trusted him to handle the situation well, but there was a chance that Smaug might not agree with that sentiment.

"I hear movement again. Wait, he's saying something... Underhill. Don't know what to make of that."   
"Impressive. What else do you claim to be?" I heard Smaug's voice loud and clear.   
"Can't you hear the Dragon?" I asked. "His mere breathing is drowning out everything Bilbo says."  
"We can hear it, but not the individual words," said Kili.   
"I don't hear anything," said Oin.

I don't want to come across as rude, but Oin wouldn't hear the Dragon even if he was in Bilbo's place. I went back to eavesdropping on Bilbo and the beast.

"Lovely titles; go on," I repeated. "Barrels? Now that is interesting."   
I paused and looked at the Dwarves in shock at what I heard next before I repeated what had shocked me. "And what about your little Dwarf friends? Where are they hiding?   
He's on to us!" He either didn't smell me, or I smelled like Dwarf. I hoped the former because, well, have you smelled them? You need a bit more than sage to mask their scent.

"Oh, I don't think so, barrel-rider. They sent you in here to do their dirty work while they skulk about outside." Indeed, by now most of the Dwarves had actually gone outside, not wanting to listen as I potentially told them how Bilbo dies. I understood that, but I was scared by the Dragon's acute sense of smell.   
"You have nice manners for a thief and a liar! I know the smell and taste of dwarf. No one better. It is the gold! They are drawn to treasure like flies to dead flesh." The few remaining Dwarves looked at me offended. I raised my hands in surrender. "I am just the messenger- wait, he's moving again."

This was getting a bit dodgy for my money. I wanted Bilbo out of there now.  
"Did you think I did not know this day would come, when a pack of canting Dwarves would come crawling back to the mountain?!" This time I didn't have to repeat it, as Smaug had risen his already loud voice. All of the remaining Dwarves went outside now. I stayed in to continue listening. Something big had fallen and shook the whole mountain.  
"Was that an earthquake?" I heard Dori ask in concern from outside.  
"That, my lad...was a dragon," Balin explained. I imagined even more concern across Dori's face. 

I sat in semi silence for a bit, only the sound of Smaug moving disturbed it. "The King under the mountain is dead. I took his throne. I ate his people like a wolf among sheep. I kill where I wish, when I wish. My armour is iron. No blade can pierce me!" I heard the Dragon roar.

I'd heard enough. Bilbo needed help. I found my way outside to find the Company sitting in the area in front of the door. From here there was a good view to Dale, where it lay in darkness.  
I was greeted by cold wind and pipe smoke.  
"Bilbo needs help," I stated. I was back inside already when I heard Thorin's answer.

"Give him more time," he said.  
"To do what? To be killed?" Good, Balin agreed with me. I quickly walked back and wordlessly told him to shut up and draw his sword. He didn't get the message.  
"You're afraid." Thorin eyed both Balin and me.

Balin got up at and while he strode to Thorin I looked back to the door. "Yes, I'm afraid. I fear for you. A sickness lies upon that treasure hoard, a sickness that drove your grandfather mad," Balin said. I waited at the door.  
"I am not my grandfather."  
"Of course you're not, but you sound like how my father described him," I told him. "And we both know that can't be good." Not the most tactful comment, but then again. Tact isn't my style.

"You're not yourself. The Thorin I know would not hesitate to go in there-" Balin was cut off by Thorin.   
"I will not risk this quest for the life of one burglar."  
I strode up to him quickly and glared him in the face. "How many more times Thorin?" I said desperately. "His name is Bilbo! Now, I'm going in there and you are following me when you found your respect for master Baggins, who went in there, alone, and is now facing a Dragon to find a jewel for you." 

I first prodded Thorin in the chest with every word and then went into the mountain. But not without glaring over my shoulder at him.

-~-

"It's Oakenshield. That filthy Dwarvish usurper! He sent you in here for the Arkenstone, didn't he?" I heard Smaug before I saw him. And when I did, the courage I had previously possessed vanished.  
"No, no, no. I don't know what you're talking about," I heard Bilbo's voice. He was still defending Thorin, who still wasn't with me to help him. I knew I had to do something, but what? 

"Don't bother denying it. I guessed his foul purpose some time ago. But it matters not. Oakenshield's quest will fail. The darkness is coming, it will spread to every corner of the land."  
What Darkness? Azog? He is paler than snow. Sure, he is annoying and hard to get rid of, but surely, he wasn't that powerful? Or did he have an employer? One that was even more annoying and hard to get rid of?

"You have been used, thief in the shadows. You were only ever a means to an end. The coward Oakenshield has weighed the value of your life and found it worth nothing."  
"No. No. No, you're lying!" Bilbo sounded angry now. And unsure. Smaug, it seemed, was really not lying. Sad as that may be. Thorin still hadn't joined forces with me. Neither had any of the others.   
"What did he promise you? A share of the treasure? As if it was his to give. I will not part with a single coin. Not one piece of it."

I had heard quite enough. I silently climbed down, making sure to stay out of Smaug's sight. Off to find Bilbo and leave this place. If Thorin wanted the Arkenstone so badly, he would have to come and get it himself.  
"Bilbo!" I whispered, hoping that Bilbo would hear me and Smaug would not. "Let's get out of here."

I didn't see the giant Dragon's tail coming from behind and tossing both Bilbo and me across the area, where we smacked against a pillar.  
"My teeth are swords! My claws are spears! My wings are a hurricane!"

Good for you. I want to leave. Coming here was a mistake and so was convincing Bilbo to be a part of this. I'll take him back to Shire and get far away from here myself. I might stay in the Shire, or I might stay in Rivendell. I'll make the plan on the go. I had to focus on both of us leaving the mountain alive first.

Smaug noticed me now too. "So, there are two of you. Don't think you could steal anything from me, Elfling!"  
Why was everyone so obsessed with my height? Or, well, lack there off.  
I quickly brushed myself off so no coins were caught on my clothing. "I want no piece of this cursed treasure; I want simply to leave this place with my friend and not come back."  
"You will go nowhere, thieves!"  
"Please?" I sounded pretty annoyed, but, in fact, I was quite terrified. The Dragon reared up. It was very intimidating and was going to kill both us with a single snap of those jaws. 

"So, it is true. The black arrow found its mark," Bilbo muttered. Then I saw it too; a single missing scale near his left wing.  
"What did you say?" Smaug demanded.   
"Uh, uh, I was just saying your reputation precedes you, oh Smaug the tyrannical. Truly, you have no equal on this earth."   
As Bilbo spoke, we backed up. We were now in an open spot. A few paces in front of us lay a brilliant white jewel. It must have been the Arkenstone, given the following thing Smaug said.

"I am almost tempted to let you take it, if only to see Oakenshield suffer, watch it destroy him, watch it corrupt his heart and drive him mad." That was already beginning. The Dragon brought its head back up. "But I think not. I think our little game ends here. So, tell me, thieves, how do you choose to die?" His chest was starting to glow. He was readying himself to spit fire. If I had to choose a means to an end, more specifically, my end, Dragon's Fire would among the last things I would choose. Death by spiders wasn't very high on my list either, but I don't he was going to give us a choice. 

Bilbo and I looked at each other, or I thought we did. He had disappeared. I had jumped up just in time to not be eaten. But there was a tiny problem.  
I was now standing on top of Smaug's nose.

I grinned at him stupidly, before jumping away and making random turns and twists until he'd lost sight of me. He roared in frustration, making the whole mountain shake again. I ran back up the way I came in. I saw Bilbo run to there as well.

When we reached each other, I joked to Bilbo: "Well, that is something I will not be doing again. Come on, let's get you home."   
We ran up the stairs where I collided with Thorin, I fell on my butt. He didn't even flinch.

He had finally come! Not a moment too soon. Several too late actually. I wasn't entirely happy with him.

"You're alive!" Thorin sounded surprised, he had his sword drawn. I wanted to ask him who knocked the sense into him when a bout of fire illuminated the hall in the distance.  
"Not for much longer!" Bilbo almost yelled.

"Did you find the Arkenstone?"  
"The dragon's coming!" Bilbo said desperately.  
"The Arkenstone!" Thorin stood in the doorway, blocking our path out. I was starting to panic as I heard the Dragon come closer. Thorin spoke softer. "Did you find it?"  
Bilbo was still panting as he stared at Thorin incredulously. I stared angrily. "No. We have to get out," Bilbo stated the obvious and tried to get past Thorin, who swung his sword to block the path. He nearly killed Bilbo. I drew my bow and aimed it at Thorin. He didn't notice and pointed his sword at Bilbo's chest.  
"Thorin, let us go or I will not hesitate to shoot you." I still held my bow trained at Thorin's face. We both seemed to know that I would, in fact hesitate to shoot him, I didn't have it in me. Thorin knew that. He walked to me, forcing Bilbo to take a few steps back. 

My eyes were likely large and teary with a mix of emotions I didn't understand. One thing I was certain of was that fear was definitely one of them, anger too. His face however, seemed devoid of any emotions. He turned his sword to me before I heard Smaug roar and I spun around.  
I felt the tip if Thorin's sword in my back, but I had bigger problems now.

The Dragon snarled. Then I heard the other Dwarves storm up behind us with their weapons drawn. Smaug was about to spit fire at us but we dove off the staircase and tumbled down a mountain of gold. We ended up at another hallway, which we promptly bolted into.

Thorin was the last to burst into the chamber at the other end. His coat was on fire, so he dropped down and rolled to extinguish himself. I would have laughed but I doubt he would have seen the humour in that. Besides, I was still mad at- and scared of him.

He jumped back up and bid us to follow him. We ran quietly to a stone bridge. Thorin ordered us to halt and looked around corner. "I don't hear him," I whispered.  
"We've given him the slip," said Fili quietly.  
"Nah, he's too clever for that," Dwalin told him.  
"So where to now?" asked Bilbo.  
"The western guardroom. There may be a way out." Thorin seemed to have snapped out of it. Whatever it may be.  
"It's too high. There's no chance that way," Balin argued.  
"It's our only chance. We have to try."

So we quietly tiptoed across the bridge. Until a coin fell and ringed loudly. I turned around to see Bilbo patting himself down to see if a coin could have stuck to a fold in his clothing.  
Then a coin fell on my head. I would have cursed at it if had Fili not covered my mouth with his hands.   
He knew me so well. 

We looked up. There was Smaug, crawling above us, looking for us. More coins and gems rained down. Smaug hadn't seen us yet and Thorin motioned for us to keep moving. We finally got into the guardroom. Thorin ordered us to stay close. We all stopped abruptly when we saw a large pile of rotted corpses covered in cobwebs.   
"That's it then, there's no way out," Dwalin sighed.

A landslide had covered the exit, leaving the Dwarves that had come here all those years ago to die. Leaving us to die.


	23. It's not stupid if it works, only it didn't really work.

"The last of our kin. They must have come here, hoping beyond hope. We could try to reach the Mines. We might last a few days," Balin suggested. 

Ever the optimist.

"No. I will not die like this. Cowering, clawing for breath. We make for the forges," Thorin flat out refused.  
"He'll see us, sure as death," Dwalin argued.  
"Death is not a given for me. I'll distract him," I suggested.  
"Death will be a given for you then," Kili reasoned.  
"Not if we split up," said Thorin.  
"Thorin, we'll never make it," Balin argued.  
"Some of us might. Lead him to the forges. We kill the dragon. If this is to end in fire, then we will all burn together."  
I didn't like the sound of that, burning to death in the dark. But it was better than my plan, or Balin's. So we went for it.

I went in a group with Fili, Kili and Bofur. We were supposed to run away from the forges, luring the dragon with us. The lads had run out already but Thorin caught my arm. "Be careful out there. Make sure he doesn't get you. Or the lads," he said softly into my ear so none of the others could hear. I put my hand on his cheek and nodded, before I took off at a run after Kili.

I can't ever stay mad at him for the amount of time he deserves. It's really annoying. 

We ran across the bridge and climbed to another one. "Hey, you giant worm, come and get us!" I yelled as we ran down it. The brief distraction it caused gave the group made up of Thorin, Bilbo and Balin time to run over the bridge and get closer to the forges.

"Flee, flee! Run for your lives! There is nowhere to hide!" taunted Smaug's booming voice. We ran as fast as our legs would carry us. The boys eventually dove into a corridor but I ran on; I hadn't heard the next group yet.

"Behind you!" shouted Dori from another bridge, causing the dragon to turn to his group and giving me enough time to run along to the next spot we were needed. I backtracked to were the lads dove into the corridor and followed it to a lower level of bridges.  
Then Dwalin, Oin and Nori ran across yet another bridge. "Hey! You! Here!" Dwalin yelled. Smaug was now chasing them.

Gloin and Bifur used this as a chance to run to their respective bridge. Smaug spewed fire in an arc around them. Gloin and Bifur sprang into two large buckets on an old conveyor system.  
Further down the way. The group consisting of Balin, Bilbo and Thorin split up. This was clearly not supposed to happen. "Thorin!" Bilbo called him back to where Balin had disappeared. It was a bit too loud though, as the Dragon had heard and turned to them with a snarl.

"Follow Balin!" Thorin ordered Bilbo. After a small bit of persuasion and me buying them as much time as possible by yelling profanities that made even Bofur blush, Bilbo followed Balin.

My group ran into the next hallway and we ran out onto another bridge, I just saw Thorin fall down a deep pit. Bofur and I yelled again to distract the dragon who dove after him. It was of no use. I almost jumped off the bridge to go after them faster. Fili pulling me with him brought me to my senses. The bridge was too high a fall for me to survive. I wouldn't have been able to do anything once I had gone after him either. 

As we ran forward and leapt to another bridge that was close by, I saw Dwalin hit a piece of machinery, which made a heavy looking thing go down and a chain in the pit up.  
I saw a soft orange glow from down the pit and soon after saw Nori hitting another machine that pulled another chain up. I also heard something big collide with Smaug. Dwalin's machine was nowhere to be seen.

We ran down to an area with narrow pillars built close together. Most of the others were there too. We had reached the forge area. It was huge. There were several large Dwarven forges. There was only one problem. They were unlit.

"The plan's not going to work. These furnaces are stone cold," Dwalin voiced my concern when Thorin came in.  
"He's right; there's no fire hot enough to set them ablaze," Balin agreed.  
An idea struck me and I went out to the pit. Thorin followed me. "Go back, I am faster and more infuriating than you, tell the others to find a safe spot," I ordered him. I think he agreed with what I said because, surprisingly, he did as I told him. After I had given them a minute or so, I yelled down the pit. "Well, that was quite easy, one would think outsmarting a millennia old Dragon would be a bit more challenging! You are slow-" I wanted to taunt him more, but Smaug already emerged from the pit. Well, that was easy.  
I ran back to the forgery and hid behind a pillar. The fire skimmed right past me and lit the furnaces. I yelled out because even though it did not touch me, the fire still burned hot. Luckily, my hair or clothing didn't catch fire.

When Smaug stopped spewing flames, we ran from the pillars. Smaug began ramming against them with his head. I was smug for a second before the pillars bent slightly at another hit.  
"Bombur! Get those bellows working, go!" ordered Thorin.  
"Alright."  
Bombur ran and jumped into a chain, which went down under his weight. He landed on a giant bellows, which compressed an air blast into the furnace.  
I started to get stressed over the continued bending of the pillars.

"Bilbo!" yelled Thorin, pointing to a lever up on a mound. "On my mark, pull that lever!"  
Bilbo ran to it and the rest of us ran to the forges as the pillars broke. Smaug turned to Bilbo, growling at him. Then at Thorin.  
"Now!" Thorin yelled with a gesture of his hand. Bilbo pulled the lever and large jets of water erupted behind him, quenching the fire Smaug was starting to blow Thorin's way and knocking him off balance.  
The jets of water got a watermill going which set a conveyor belt in motion. By now, the fire in the furnace glowed blue. 

Smaug had risen into the air, snarling and trashing about in frustration. I saw that the belt had brought over Gloin and Bifur. Smaug was making his way to Thorin again. Unfazed by the bombs of flash-fire that exploded at the side of his face.  
He did seem fazed when Gloin cut the conveyor he and Bifur were not in, raining down tons of rock and ore on Smaug, who fell to the ground, tangled in ropes and roaring.  
The conveyor that did have Gloin and Bifur in it broke too, sending them tumbling down. Miraculously, they got up without a scratch as far as I could tell.

"Lead him to the gallery of the kings!" Thorin instructed.  
It was just in time, as Smaug managed to free himself. Sending two buckets from the fallen belt hurtling at Bilbo. He dove away just in time as the buckets took out a large chunk of the wall.

Thorin grabbed a wheelbarrow and pushed it while running. He dashed past Smaug and dropped it into a canal of molten gold. He hopped into it and sailed off, somehow not burning to death. Smaug saw it and for a second looked just as confused as I did before rage made him yell out again and follow Thorin.

"This is no time to be starin' lass!" said Bofur hastily as he pulled me with him by the wrist.

I had no idea where the gallery of the kings was, father never let me come into Erebor when there was a meeting with the Dwarves. I ignored that, but never went to big halls in fear of getting caught. So I just followed behind Bofur and the rest.  
We arrived in a large chamber where we hid just in time for the Smaug to burst through. He looked around but saw none of us. "You think you could deceive me, Barrel-rider? You have come from Laketown. There is- is some sort of scheme hatched between these filthy Dwarves and those miserable cup-trading Lakemen. Those snivelling cowards with their longbows and black arrows!" At those last words, Smaug's voice cracked. Was that fear I heard?  
"Perhaps it is time I paid them a visit."  
Please don't. I am not overly fond of them either, but I was going to kill Alfrid, not you.

Bilbo shot out from under a fallen banner. "This isn't their fault! Wait! You cannot go to Laketown."  
"You care about them, don't you? Good. Then you can watch them die." Smaug was striding off again.

"Here, you witless worm!" Thorin's voice boomed from across the room. We was atop a stone thingy that looked roughly like a Dwarf. Maybe the statue wasn't quite finished when Erebor was initially attacked.  
"Come!" Nori hissed at me. I followed him until we stood behind the statue. Dwalin handed me a chain.  
"How come everyone knows what this part of the plan is, but I don't?" I asked.

Smaug had stopped in his tracks, likely baring his already bared teeth even further in anger. "You."  
"I am taking back what you stole."  
I heard the Dragon walk in our direction.  
"You would take nothing from me, Dwarf. I laid low your warriors of old. I instilled terror in the hearts of men. I am King under the Mountain." He sure did love talking about himself.

"This is not your kingdom. These are Dwarf lands, this is Dwarf gold, and we will have our revenge."  
Thorin yelled something in Khuzdul as he janked on a rope. Me and the other Dwarves saw that as a sign to pull hard on our chains.  
Well, I only saw it as a sign when I saw the rest do so.  
The stone structure fell apart to reveal a big golden statue of a Dwarven king I sort of recognised from the backside.

I followed the rest of the Dwarves, who had run off because the statues butt was too hot.  
I mean that in a literal sense, naturally.  
The statue was even bigger that Smaug, and that was saying something. That was a metric fuckton of gold.  
Smaug looked at it with greed shining in his eyes. There was an element of surprise in there too, when the statue's face exploded and still liquid gold spewed out.

All of us had found higher grounds as a tidal wave of liquid gold engulfed Smaug and seemed to drown him. The gold covered the whole of the hall's floor in a thick coating of gold.  
The gold set with nothing to indicate Smaug was even in there. We began to celebrate with our trademark cheers and whoops when suddenly, the floor exploded. Not the whole thing, just a part.

A gold covered Smaug burst out of it, yelling pain. "Ah! Revenge? Revenge? I will show you revenge!"  
He burst through the back wall and out into night. Bilbo and I ran out after him and climbed up an old ruin from where we could see Laketown.  
Smaug soared towards it as he encouraged himself. "I am fire, I am... Death!" He paused at every word.

"Not good," I muttered.   
"What have we done?" Bilbo thought aloud.


	24. The very effective diplomatic tactic known as the awkward slide.

We were sat at the small clearing in front of the hidden door again.  
Laketown was burning. Smaug had flown across a few times while spitting flames downward. A couple more times and he would be done. Laketown would be gone.

"Poor souls," said Balin.  
We made our murmurs of agreement and looked at each other with a mixture of sadness and fear in our eyes.  
I tried to lock eyes with Thorin, he was looking back at the halls of Erebor, instead of the obvious eye magnet in front of him.  
I turned my head back at the Dragon and the burning lake. He landed suddenly, turning his head in the direction of a narrow tower that was relatively untouched by the blaze.  
I heard the low rumble of his voice and could just barely make out what he was saying. The sound carried over the water.

"Who are you that would stand against me?"  
It was only logical that I didn't catch what his conversation partner replied. Smaug's response made me have some idea of who it was though.  
"Now that is a pity. What will you do now, Bowman? You are forsaken. No help will come."  
It was Bard. Or Legolas, but I doubted that he was there, so my best bet was Bard.  
"Is that your child? You can not save him from the fire. He will burn." Definitely Bard. Legolas didn't have children that I knew of. Then again, I had been gone for seventy years. He could have had a child that is all grown up now.  
I doubt it, because if he did, he would have come to find me and show his kid to me.

"Tell me, wretch, how now shall you challenge me?" The Dragon was creeping forward. "You have nothing left, but your death," Smaug tormented as he lunged forward at the tower.  
Smaug hit the tower, but screamed in pain shortly before he reached it. Smaug rolled and slid around the town, destroying everything in his path.

Had Bard done it? Had he killed the Dragon?

Smaug struggled into the skies. The wind created from his wings made the fire bend. He managed a few beats up before he fell down. He didn't get up again as the town burned on.  
The sound of Smaug hitting the ground was loud enough for even the Dwarves to hear. They jumped up, not having been as curious as me and Bilbo. They hadn't watched, which was understandable.

"What was that? What happened?" Oin asked.  
"It fell. I saw it." Bilbo was baffled. I was too shocked to speak. "It's dead. Smaug is dead!" Bilbo still sounded shocked as the Dwarves rose to see the burning town, now without a Dragon.  
Thorin was still staring into the mountain. He seemed untouched by the whole situation, which made me a bit uncomfortable.  
I absentmindedly twirled the small braid.

"By my beard! I think he's right! Look, the ravens of Erebor are returning to the mountain," Gloin exclaimed as he pointed up.  
I saw that, indeed, a large quantity of ravens was flying up to the mountain.  
"Aye, word will spread. Soon every soul in middle earth will know; the Dragon is dead," Oin said.  
The Dwarves laughed in glee, I joined them, but I silenced myself as I saw Thorin heading back into mountain.  
After a while, the rest of us went inside too. Thorin waxed poetic about the treasure and put us all to work finding the Arkenstone. I went to the place where I last saw it, but it wasn't there anymore. I looked around a bit more, but I couldn't find it.

"Dawn!" Ori whispered from behind me.  
I turned around and greeted him a smile. He was holding a bag that looked rather brimming with supplies. "You have to hide," he said quickly.   
I tilted my head in inquiry. "Why?"  
"Thorin's been mumbling to himself- I don't think he's in his right mind -about Elves and, and- just take this and hide in the hallways for a couple days. You should be fine after that. I don't think he made the connection that you're also an Elf." Ori was genuinely scared for me. I took his advice and the bag of supplies before running for the hallways in the direction that Ori pointed me, making sure to keep out of Thorin's sight.

After a few tries, I found a door that was unlocked. I led to a small home with a single bedroom where I would be holed up for the next two or three days. I didn't go further into the mountain for fear of getting lost, but I piled up copper pots and pans against the door that would warn me if anyone got inside. Even with that, I slept with one eye open.  
On what I think was the third day, supplies began to run low. Ori had said that I should be okay after a couple of days right? I missed contact, both physical or verbal. The walls weren't good conversation partners and they were also cold as stone.  
That must have been because they were stone.

I made my way to the entrance bridge where the secret entrance came out and called out. "Ori! Fili! Kili!" When I got no response I walked on to the main hall. It was covered with treasure as far as the eye could see. Which was until the back wall, far away.  
Bilbo came running up to me. "Wait! Wait!" I halted and waited for Bilbo to reach me. "Stop stop stop!"  
"I am standing perfectly still, Bilbo."  
"You need to leave. We all need to leave."  
"I just got back."  
"I've tried talking to him, but he won't listen."  
"Who have you been trying to talk to?" I tilted my head.  
"Thorin! Thorin. Thorin. He's been out there for days. He doesn't sleep, he barely eats. He's not been himself, not at all. It's this, this place. I think a sickness lies upon it."

That worried me. It worried me a lot. Well, barely sleeping and very rationed eating had been me too. But I stayed myself. I had to check on him.  
"Maybe I can make him see sense," I said as I strode briskly past Bilbo. It probably was a bad idea, with Thorin mumbling to himself about Elves in a way that worried Ori enough to hide me.

"Dawn. Dawn. Dawn!" Bilbo repeated my name a few times, but I was stubbornly determined. I stopped dead in my tracks as I saw Thorin though.  
He was decked out in royal robes and was wearing a crown. He was mumbling to himself as he strode across the treasure, eyeing it with a look that was distinctly not Thorin.   
At least not the Thorin I met at Bag End. That Thorin was kind of an asshole. But this was not him.

"Gold. Gold beyond measure. Beyond sorrow and grief." He looked up to see me standing on the stair.  
"Behold, the great treasure of Thror." He flung something at me and I caught it. It was a beautiful and large gem, red as blood.  
"Welcome, âmralîme, to Erebor." Thorin splayed out his arms.  
I still didn't know what âmralîme meant, but I had different matters on my mind. I hoped it was something positive like "my friend" and not something like "filthy Elf." Because that would be bad.

I didn't get the chance to speak to him though, as he forced me to look for the Arkenstone again with the rest when I had made my way over to him.  
After a while of digging up gold and jewels, I was getting tired. Really tired.  
"Any sign of it?" Thorin demanded from the top of a mountain of gold.  
"Nothing yet."  
"Nope!"  
"Nothing here!"  
"Keep searching!"  
"That jewel could be anywhere!" Exclaimed Oin, who looked just as, if not more tired than me.  
"The Arkenstone is in these halls, find it!"  
"You heard him, keep looking," Dwalin repeated Thorin's order, more for himself than for the rest. He sounded half asleep already.  
"All of you, no one rests until it is found!"

I groaned loudly, expecting the others to do so as well, but no one did. Thorin looked at me questioningly. I stared back challengingly.  
Thorin walked up to me. "You dare defy me?" he asked loudly for all to hear.  
I looked up at him from my kneeled position. "Yes the fuck I do. How did you not expect me to? Give me a break, Thorin! I walk in here and immediately I'm put to work. I didn't even get the chance to greet the rest."  
Unbelievable.

"You will not rest until the Arkenstone is found!" He pointed very sternly at my face. It seemed more like madly to me.  
No, the rest. Not rest. Although, a nap didn't sound too bad right now.  
"I am looking, your highness!" I yelled as I dug back into the gold. He didn't seem to notice that I was angry at him. I wanted to throw a coin or something bigger at his retreating head, but thought better of it.

Smaug's words bounced around my head. "I am almost tempted to let you take it. If only to see Oakenshield suffer. Watch it destroy him, watch it corrupt his heart and drive him mad!"  
"It is here in these halls, I know it."  
Then why aren't you looking, Asshole?  
"We have searched and searched-" Dwalin was cut off by an angry Thorin.  
"Not well enough."  
Again, why don't you help us look?  
"Thorin, we all would see the stone returned," Dwalin defended.  
"And yet it is still not found!" Thorin was absolutely pissed. I had passed the stage where I needed a stronger word than fucking moron to describe Thorin. I was better composed than him though.

"Do you question the loyalty of anyone here?" Balin asked.  
I had a feeling that Thorin gave me a glance. I didn't look up to confirm it though. Just kept digging in the mountain of gold. After another hour or so, I was fed up with it and got up. Almost fell back down too. I couldn't see straight anymore and I stumbled off. Must be the after effects the poison. Or the couple days of sleep deprivation.

"Where do you think you're going!?" Thorin yelled at me. When I turned around, I saw two of him striding up to me, looking angry. I had to give my head a good shake before they merged into one.  
"I am going to stretch my legs and find a good place to sleep," I said. My eyelids were so heavy. I could barely keep them open. I had no energy for an argument and Thorin's mere presence was giving me a headache at the moment. Also I was hungry and thirsty, but that could wait.  
"You are not resting until the Arkenstone is found."  
"Yes, you mentioned that. You could take my place looking." I suggested. It was not the smartest thing I could say, but I by now we have established that I'm not that smart. 

All I cared about now, was to stumble to a place where I could curl up and sleep for the rest of eternity, undisturbed. Preferably with the wind on my face.  
I walked off again, but I didn't make it far as a blade was poked in my back. "Please don't." I complained, not turning around. "I'll go back searching when I've had some sleep. You could dangle the Arkenstone in front me now and I wouldn't see it." I hoped I sounded reasonable. To him it probably didn't, but he let it go anyway as someone swept me up and I fell asleep almost immediately.  
I awoke on a bench with my head on Bilbo's lap. I yawned and stretched. "Is it found yet?" I asked. 

"Nope," Bilbo said, examining an acorn in his hand.  
I pulled a face and sat up. Then I got startled by Thorin who suddenly burst onto the balcony.  
"What is that? In your hand!" he demanded angrily.  
"It-it's nothing," Bilbo stuttered, obviously startled as well.  
"Show me!"  
"Thorin!" I warned him. But he paid me no mind. Bilbo held out his hand to Thorin, showing him the acorn.  
"I picked it at Beorn's garden," he explained.  
"You've carried it all this way." Thorin's voice sounded a lot less harsh than it had mere moments ago.  
"I'm going to plant it in my garden. At Bag End."

Thorin's anger seemed to have evaporated as he smiled at Bilbo, smiled of all things. "That's a poor price to take back to the Shire."  
I was absolutely taken aback by the gentleness of his voice. The only thing Thorin and I seemed to be capable of lately was having loud and generally unpleasant arguments. I had grown to hate arguing with him, but he was being unreasonable.  
"One day it'll grow. And every time I look at it, I'll remember. Remember everything that happened, the good, the bad, and how lucky I am that I made it home."

Bilbo, you adorable dork. My heart had molten. Thorin and Bilbo smiled at each other.

"Thorin, I-" Bilbo was cut of by Dwalin bringing in a report.  
"Thorin, survivors, from Laketown, they are streaming into Dale."  
Thorin's good mood was gone. "Call everyone to the gate."  
Thorin stalked off. "Everyone to the gate! Now!" He looked back at me as a warning, that if I dared defy his orders again he would gut me.  
He would have to catch me first, but I decided not risk it. I thanked Bilbo for staying with me while I slept and followed Thorin.

Thorin ordered us to block the entrance that Smaug had made.  
"I want this fortress made by sunup. This mountain was hard won, I will not see it taken again."  
"The people of Laketown have nothing. They came to us in need. They have lost everything," Kili argued, but Thorin shut him down.  
"Do not tell me what they have lost. I know well enough their hardship. Those who have lived through Dragon fire should rejoice. They have much to be grateful for."  
"You told my father to go... what was it? Die in a Dragon's fire? Because he hadn't helped you when you needed him most. Why follow his example?"

"More stone, bring more stone to the gate!" Thorin barked as he spotted the fires in Dale.  
I helped build the wall, I looked after a hole left in it so that some sort of diplomatic exchange could still be held. Then I went to sleep again.

I woke up and looked over the wall. I saw that Thranduil had arrived with his army. I went inside to find Thorin. He stood by a bowl of white gems, holding a brilliant necklace.  
"The white gems of Lasgalen. I know an Elf-lord who would pay a pretty price for these."  
So did I.  
He threw it back in the bowl, scattering the unused gems everywhere. He slowly strode off.  
I walked up to them, holding up the necklace for myself. I was captivated. That was the necklace my father had ordered as anniversary gift for my mother ages ago. It was very large and extravagant. And Thranduil hadn't yet paid for it.

I put the necklace back more carefully than Thorin did and followed him to the platform that we made at the top of the blockade. Just as Bard came riding to us on a horse.  
"Hail Thorin, son of Thrain. We are glad to find you alive beyond hope," he greeted. I could only hope that Thorin would be that civilised.  
"Why do you come to the gates of the king under the mountain armed for war?"

I pulled a face, that was worse than my worst case scenario.  
"Why does the king under the mountain fence himself in? Like a robber in his hole."  
Not a good idea Bard. I've tried sass, he's not overly fond of it at the moment.

"Maybe because I am expecting to be robbed!"  
"Ladies! Quit your bickering and settle this like the adults you claim to be." I complained. There was nothing wrong with sass, this just wasn't the time.  
When my glaring at Thorin didn't wrench out an apology, I shot Bard a pleading look.  
He sighed. "My lord, we have not come to rob you, but to seek fair settlement. Will you not speak with me?"

Thorin looked thoughtful and it was taking too long in my opinion, so I dragged his brooding butt down to the hole in the wall.  
He gave me an angry look, I gave him an unimpressed one.  
He walked up to the hole. "I'm listening," he said dramatically.  
Bard fired away right off. "On behalf of the people of Laketown, I ask that you honour your pledge. A share of the treasure so they might rebuild their lives."  
That was reasonable, more than that actually. Why did he even have to ask?

"I do not treat any man while an armed host lies before my door."  
He had been planning to say that no matter what Bard did.  
"That armed host will attack this mountain, if we do not come to terms," Bard threatened.  
"Your threats do not sway me," Thorin said stubbornly. I was mentally hitting my face against the wall several times. His threats should sway you, Thorin. That is the entire army of Mirkwood that could make quick work of the fourteen of us.

"What of your conscience? Does it not tell you our cause is just? My people offered you help. And you brought upon them only ruin and death."  
"When did the men of Laketown come to our aid, but for the promise of rich reward?"  
"A bargain was struck!"  
They had pissed each other off and in doing so, annoyed the ever living fuck out of me.  
"A bargain? What choice did we have but to barter our birth right for blankets and food? To ransom our future in exchange for our freedom? You call that a fair trade? Tell me Bard the Dragon slayer, why should I honour such terms?"  
Maybe because you came up with them in the first place.  
"Because you gave us your word. Does that mean nothing to you?"  
Thorin slid away from the hole.

"Did you just awkward slide him?" I asked loud enough for Bard to hear, as I heard him chuckle despite the situation.


	25. Thorin and I are a thing now, oh, hi dad!

"Begone! Ere arrow fly!"  
I smacked myself in the face with a too powerful attempt at a face palm. "Thorin, you are outnumbered, you bloody idiot!" I told him off.  
"Not for long."

I groaned in frustration at the stubbornness of this man. Not to say I wasn't headstrong myself, I could almost compete with Dwarves on that front. The almost in the situation being very infuriating.  
I whipped around and walked back up the balcony on the gate, Thorin followed.  
"What are you doing? You cannot go to war!" Bilbo exclaimed.  
"This does not concern you," Thorin brushed him off. I was done giving lectures about how going to war against a fairly large army and no small amount of angry Dragon survivors was not a great plan. 

Luckily Bilbo had enough sense to do it himself. "Excuse me, but in case you haven't noticed, there's an army of Elves out there." He raised his voice while pointing out to Dale. "And not to mention several hundred angry fisherman. We- we are in fact, outnumbered." Bilbo used the same arguments I had, but a bit more descriptive.  
Thorin had the audacity to smile at Bilbo. "Not for much longer."  
Bilbo was as confused as I was angry. "What does that mean?"  
"It means, master Baggins, that you should never underestimate Dwarves." Thorin turned to the rest of us. "We have reclaimed Erebor, now we defend it."

"By declaring war on those who bid you to honour your word?" I questioned rhetorically. I didn't expect an answer and I didn't get one. Thorin walked down the steps. Bilbo and Balin looked at each other in distress.  
The other Dwarves decapitated a large stone statue. It's falling head broke down the bridge that still existed between the rest of Middle-Earth and Erebor. So much for diplomacy.

"Congratulations, you just decapitated your great-grandfather." I threw my hands up in frustration at the fact that Thorin thought that was going to help with keeping the Elves out. They'd just need to wait a few weeks at this point, as far as they knew. Without a bridge, we can't get food or water in here.

"You don't look all too happy," Bofur told me.  
"I don't? That's strange, this is the best day of my life," I answered sarcastically. I followed him to the armoury. There was a vast amount of dusty armour. All of it was too heavy and none of it fit. I gave up on armour and accepted the fact that I was going to be the first to die. I grabbed the nearest sword and stuck it under my belt, as it had no sheath. As I walked back to the balcony, I took a dagger from my belt and hid it where I could easily pull out of my sleeve if need be. I sat on the broad railing of the balcony and watched as my kin readied themselves for war against us.

I heard Thorin walk up behind me.  
"My father just wants the necklace, don't you think we should just give it to him? He'd leave and we'd only have to deal with an army of angry fishermen," I asked him in a monotone voice. I still tried to make him see sense, but only half-heartedly. I knew what his answer was going to be. "We gave the people of Lake Town our word. If you won't honour yours, at least let me honour mine and put an end to this."  
"I am grateful that you gave your word, it was nobly done." Thorin moved his hands through my hair. "But this treasure will not leave Erebor. I will not part with a single coin, not one piece of it." Thorin's voice sounded nearly exactly like Smaug's at the last part. It scared me, but I didn't want Thorin to know it did, so I kept my back turned to him.  
"The Elves are a formidable army. I've commanded them on more than one occasion and never lost a war with them at my side. You really don't want to be where their arrows are aimed."  
"They don't have you now. Don't worry, the mountain will not be breached."

It wasn't the mountain or the treasure I was worried about. What happened to you?  
Thorin left but I stayed, watching the lights pop up in Dale. When night had fully fallen, Bilbo came out with a rope. He started tying it to a pillar in a well hidden corner. He hadn't seen me yet.  
"Where are you going?" I whispered at him. He jumped about a meter into the air.  
He looked back to check that there were no Dwarves behind him, then he revealed the Arkenstone.

"No, not you. Bilbo, Thorin finally trusts you." I immediately caught on to his plan. He wanted to give it to Bard for him to use as leverage against Thorin. To force him to hold up his end of the deal. "Let me do it." It was a good idea that was worth trying, but Bilbo had worked too hard to gain Thorin's trust for him to throw it all away now.

He seemed to think over it. "But... he loves you," he said in a small voice.  
"I'm sure he won't when he finds out about who took the Arkenstone where. I won't let you throw away your hard-earned trust. If he finds out I did it, he'll yell at me and cast me out, which is nothing I'm not used to. If he finds out you did it, I'm worried about what he might do."

He thought about it again before handing me the Arkenstone. I smiled at him and let myself down at the rope Bilbo had dropped.  
"I'll be back before sunrise, I promise," I said before turning and running to Dale. I put the Arkenstone in my quiver, under the arrows and pulled my cloak over it.

-~-

"You, bowman! Do you agree with this? Is gold so important to you? Would you buy it with the blood of Dwarves?" It was Gandalf, he sounded desperate. Never had I been so glad to hear a voice before.  
I was sneaking over the crumbling walls to the tent to avoid getting caught by the guards or to have my shadow cast on other tents.  
"It won't come to that. This is a fight they cannot win." Bard sounded quite sure of that, I certainly didn't agree with it.

I dropped down in front of the tent entrance. "That won't stop them. They're too stubborn and proud too surrender. They'll fight to the death to protect their own."  
"Dawn the Huntress!" Gandalf seemed happy to see me, Thranduil however, was not. Bard seemed indifferent.  
"Changed your name I hear?" he asked boredly.  
"It's more of a transla- sorry." The king's glare made me shut up. "Oh, I came because I wanted to strike up another bargain." I pulled the arrows out of my quiver then whipped out the Arkenstone.

Thranduil rose from his seat in surprise while I put my arrows back.  
"The heart of the mountain. The king's jewel."  
Gandalf and Bard came closer to inspect the gem.  
"And worth a king's ransom. How is this yours to give?" Bard asked me.  
"It is, in fact, not," I admitted with an air of confidence. "The ends don't always justify the means, but in this case, they do."  
"Meaning you stole it?" Bard saw right trough my metaphors.  
"I stole it," I gave in.  
"Why do you do this? You owe us no loyalty," Bard questioned my motives. Thranduil seemed to disagree on the no loyalties part. I did not.

"I am not doing this for you. My idiot of a friend Thorin Oakenshield declared war when you bid him to honour his word. I now give you a way to force him to give you what he promised. Without unnecessary bloodshed," I explained my terms.

"Also Thranduil, after this is all done and dusted, and I have escorted Bilbo back to Shire, I don't think I'll come back. Just so you know on which side of the mountains I will be."  
He looked surprised. And also a bit sad that I wouldn't call him father.  
"You are not staying in Erebor?"  
"I am not a Dwarf, and Thorin would think I betrayed him by giving you the Arkenstone, which would result in my banishment from the mountain at the very least. Suffice to say that he wouldn't like me much. Besides, if you got your way, there won't be any Erebor to stay in, so why would I?"

"~I think, dear Dawn, that he does like you, loves you even,~" Gandalf stated.  
"~And why's that?~" I asked in confusion. It was clear that Bard didn't need to know as we continued the conversation in Sindarin.  
"~The courting braid in your hair, the fact that he has referred to you as 'my love' in the past-~"

I eyed Thranduil, who looked very displeased. "~Can we talk about this somewhere else?~" I asked Gandalf awkwardly. Gandalf gestured for me to go outside first.  
I held the Arkenstone close to my body for a bit, debating whether I should go through with this or not.  
On the one hand, Thorin and company will remain pissed at me and all of Elvenkind for the rest of eternity.  
On the other hand... they would all die.

Them not liking me I could live with. Them dying, not so much, so I put the King's jewel on the table and followed Gandalf out.  
"I have never once heard Thorin say 'my love'," I told Gandalf.  
"*Âmralîme,*" Gandalf explained in one word.  
"Right. That explains a lot," I mumbled with my fingers gliding along the bead of my braid. If Thorin was courting me, even without my knowledge, why did I sometimes have the feeling that he deliberately trying to piss me off?

"I'm guessing that doing someone's hair has a cultural meaning too?" I asked with a knot in my stomach.  
"It is considered quite intimate, yes," Gandalf said with the awkwardness of a parent having to explain where babies come from.  
"Fuck," I cursed under my breath.  
"Not quite, but getting there."  
I gave him a look, blushing as I was. I didn't want to talk about this anymore.

"Rest up tonight. You must leave tomorrow," Gandalf ordered.  
I was taken aback. Had I not assured that war was not needed? "Come again?"  
"Get as far away from here as possible," Gandalf persisted. "Go back to Rivendell, wait at Beorn's until Bilbo reaches it. Elrond will take you in."  
"As lovely as that sounds, I'm not leaving until I make sure that Thorin has regained his senses. And I promised Bilbo that I'd be back before sunrise," I refused the order.

"I don't like to think what Thorin will do when he finds out what you've done," Gandalf tried to reason.  
"I am not afraid of Thorin, after all, we're courting, that must mean something to him," I argued.  
"Well, you should be afraid. He may love you, but don't underestimate the evil of gold. Gold over which a serpent has long brooded. Dragon sickness seeps into the hearts of all who come near this mountain." He looked at me with a proud gleam in his eyes. "Almost all."  
That comment made me think. I did take the Arkenstone, but not for personal gain. I would never go to war over treasure. I only used it to try and prevent war.  
"You put a praise too high on me. It was Bilbo's idea. I just didn't want him throwing his hard earned trust away."

"You there!" Gandalf called out to someone in the shadows. "Find this woman a bed and warm food. She has earned it."  
The shadow person turned out to be Alfrid. I managed not to kill him on sight. Was I proud of that? No.  
We locked gazes and I glared daggers at him. He begrudgingly led me away.

"So, the Dragon didn't kill you," he stated.  
"Didn't kill you either I see," I replied.  
"No."  
"Pity."  
"Should I bother finding you food?" Alfrid asked. He seemed to want to do the bare minimum and to not be involved with me at all.  
Luckily for him, I planned to keep my promise to Bilbo. If that meant ignoring Gandalf's orders then so be it.  
"No, I'm leaving," I said.  
"That way has no guards." Alfrid pointed to a very well lit street.  
"Thanks," I said as I went off in the other direction.

I reached the mountain just before sunrise and I climbed the rope that Bilbo had left out for me. I sat on the railing of the balcony again. Pretending to have fallen asleep by leaning against the wall with my eyes closed.


	26. This isn't flying, this is falling with style.

I opened my eyes again when I felt the light of sunrise on my face. My father's army stood gleaming in the sun on the field between Dale and Erebor. A legion of scared and angry fishermen stood next to them.  
My father and Bard rode up to the gate. It was then that I noticed Thorin behind me. He had nocked an arrow in his bow and aimed it at our visitors.

I got down from the railing and hid in a corner. The others had come up as well. Thorin let the arrow fly and it embedded itself into the ground before their steeds.  
"I will put the next one between your eyes!" Thorin warned as he loaded another arrow.  
"No, you won't. Or I'll put it between yours," I threatened him with an angry glare.

The others cheered and shook their weapons. I didn't join them.  
Thranduil shot Thorin a glare that resembled mine so much that it almost scared me. He tilted his head ever-so-slightly to the side. The Elvish army all drew their bows and loaded them. They aimed at us and everyone except Thorin dove behind the railing for shelter. The cheering had abruptly cut off. Thorin was still stubbornly pointing his bow at my father.

The Elves moved in a way that made it seem that they had rehearsed it very well.   
Let me tell you a secret. They had. It was unsurprisingly one of my worst subjects at combative training. Second only to following orders.   
After holding the position for a few seconds, Thranduil lifted his hand and the archers put their bows away in one fluid movement. Thorin held his position and the rest of us, with the exception of me, slowly came back up.

My father spoke. "We've come to tell you: payment of your debt has been offered, and accepted."  
"What payment? I gave you nothing! You have nothing!" Thorin yelled.  
Bard looked smug. "We have this."   
He whipped out the Arkenstone and tossed in the air before catching it again. He could have handled that better.  
At that, Thorin finally lowered his bow, though more in shock than that he wanted to give diplomacy another go.

"They have the Arkenstone? Thieves! How came you by the heirloom of our house? That stone belongs to the king!" Kili was also shocked.  
"And the king may have it; in our good will." Bard put the Arkenstone back into his robe. "But first he must honour his word."

Thorin whispered to himself, but the Company and I could hear. "They are taking us for fools. This is a ruse, a filthy lie."  
I was shocked that he would even consider this, and judging from Balin's expression, so was he.

"The Arkenstone is in the mountain! It is a trick!" Thorin yelled.  
"No, it is not," I said, slowly rising. Thorin had a look of anger and sorrow in his face. Bard and Thranduil looked shocked, sort of scared even. They must have thought that I was still in Dale.

"You..." began Thorin, but I cut him off.  
"It was to keep you alive, so you wouldn't die in a pointless war."  
"You would steal from me?" Thorin was hurt and angry.  
"Yes, I would, and I would do it a thousand times over, If it was the only thing that would keep your stubborn head attached to your neck. I am willing to let stand against my claim." I left Bilbo's involvement out of it and subtly warned him not to get involved with a quick glare.

"Against your claim? Your claim! You have no claim over me, you filthy Elf!" He threw down his bow anger and walked toward me. I understood what Gandalf meant when he said that I should be scared of Thorin. I was... frightened, to put it lightly.  
"I would have given it to you, but-"  
"But what, thief?" he hissed.  
"You've changed, Thorin. The Dwarf I met in the Shire would never go back on his word. He would never have doubted the loyalty of his kin!"  
"Do not speak to me... of loyalty."   
He pinned me against the back wall and drew his sword. I thought he was going to kill me so I flinched away, but he just cut off the braid before turning to the company. "Throw her over the rampart," he ordered.

No one moved to do so, bless their souls. I was still pressed against the wall, though rather by fear than Thorin now. He was going to kill me. He just didn't want to do it personally.  
"Do you hear me?!" asked Thorin. When still no one moved Thorin grabbed Fili's arm, but he quickly pulled it back.  
"Fine, I'll do it myself." 

He lunged forward and grabbed me. I tried to fight him off but he knew off the tricks that were literally up my sleeves and he was physically much stronger than I was.  
"Curse you!" he yelled while the company rushed forward to try and stop him.  
"Cursed be you and your kin!" he started pushing me over the railing.

"If you do not like my apprentice-" Gandalf's voice was magically amplified. "-then please don't damage her. Return her to me. You're not making a very splendid figure as a king under the mountain are you, Thorin, son of Thrain?"  
Thorin slowly backed away but it was too late, without him holding the collar of my shirt, I slipped away and fell. Luckily there was water at the bottom of the ditch. I clambered out, gasping for air. 

I was very surprised to see Thranduil off his Elk and walking toward me. He grabbed my chin and looked for injuries.  
"I am fine Ada. Even if I wasn't, I could easily fix it," I brushed him away.  
He was even more shocked than I was. He gave a nod before he straightened up and got back on his Elk. Gandalf then put his arm protectively on my shoulder.  
"~Son of snakes~," I hissed. I thought I didn't do it very loudly but it was loud enough for Thorin to hear.  
"What did you say?" He hadn't understood and was very angry about it.

"Dawn..." Gandalf warned me.  
"Just telling Gandalf about how much I love being thrown off high places and getting yelled for trying to prevent fifteen unnecessary deaths," my voice was laden with sarcasm.  
"Are we resolved? The return of the Arkenstone for what was promised," Bard proposed.

Thorin looked off to the eastern hill. Seven decades ago we had stood there because it was large enough for a whole army to overlook the battle in the valley. If I'd never yelled at Thranduil there, I'd be home in the forest bugging Legolas. Or maybe I'd be married already. Maybe I'd stand at my father's side as a general right now. Certainly much would be different. 

"Will you have peace, or war?" Bard asked very seriously.


	27. The most confusing battle in the history of battles.

"Don't give him the option," I hissed at Bard.  
Thorin stared at a raven that landed beside him. He smirked. "I will have war!"  
I gave Thorin my best unadulterated death glare of the most potent type. My message was: "If either of us survive this, I will hunt you down and kick your ass down the rampart." 

I think he received it loud and clear, because he cowered away from my line of sight.  
I groaned, but it was lost under a loud rumbling sound that came. We all looked to the East. There stood an army of heavily armoured Dwarves led by Dain Ironfoot. I knew absolutely nothing about him.   
"Well, absolute fuck," I sighed, before following Gandalf.  
Father urged his Elk forward. "Rush the shield-fence," he ordered.

"Who's that? He doesn't look very happy," I asked as I was trying to keep up with Gandalf without running.  
"It is Dain, the lord of the Iron Hills, Thorin's cousin," he told me with a worried look on his face.  
"They're alike aren't they?" I asked fearfully.  
"I've ways found Thorin the more reasonable of the two."

I halted and looked back at the mountain. Thorin had re-emerged but when I caught his eye, his attention seemed to be on anything but me. He didn't seem to be focussed on the situation at hand either, more on not looking my way.

"We are absolutely fucked," I said to myself before I ran up to Gandalf again.  
The short hairs where Thorin cut of the braid were just long enough to get blown into my eye by the wind. "I will shave him in his sleep," I promised myself.  
The two armies stopped at a short distance from each other. Dain addressed us.  
"Good morning, how are we all? I have a wee proposition, if you wouldn't mind giving me a few moments of your time. Would you... consider... just sodding off! All of you! Right now!"

Ah, the Iron Hill accent. It's fucking great.  
The Laketown fishermen were less amused and quite intimidated. They did indeed try to sod off.  
"Stand fast!" ordered Bard from his horse. The terrified lakemen did as they were told.  
"I can handle this, I think. I am ruder than he is," I offered Gandalf.  
"Outruding him would be our very last solution. Let me do the talking," Gandalf counteroffered politely. It was his way of saying: "You keep your fucking mouth shut."

"Come now, lord Dain!" he addressed the Dwarf lord before I could protest.  
"Gandalf the Grey," Gandalf gave a polite nod before Dain continued. "Tell this rubble to leave or I'll water the ground with their blood."  
I stayed behind as Gandalf walked out in front of the army. "There is no need for war between Dwarves, Men and Elves. A legion of Orcs marches on the mountain. Stand your army down."  
Oh fuck. More than fucked now, I think we need a stronger word, like pregnant. Because actually the situation was fucked a while ago.

"I will not stand down before any Elf! Not least this faithless woodland sprite!" He pointed his hammer at my father, who looked highly offended.  
I would have laughed had it not been for the threat of an Orc legion hanging in the air.  
"Forget standing your army down, I say we combine forces and make sure that the legion of Orcs doesn't flatten us! I have found that it is entirely possible for Elves and Dwarves to work together, if you possess the self control it takes to not kill one another. I was one of the idiots who reclaimed the mountain and last time I checked, my ears ended in points," I stepped forward.

"I am not going to cooperate with you Elves!" Dain argued.  
"Once again, Orcs!" I restated my main point.  
"He wishes nothing but ill upon my people. If he chooses to stand between me and my kin, I'll split his pretty head open! See if he's still smirking then!" He was pointing at Thranduil again, who gave the illusion that he was amused but I knew the smirk of disapproval. I had it directed at me many times before.

"Let them advance, see how far they get," he spat.  
"You think I give a dead boar for your threats, you pointy-eared princess?" Dain shot over his shoulder as he rode up to his army.  
I laughed at that and Thranduil directed the smirk of disapproval at me.  
"He's clearly mad, like his cousin," retorted my father while my friends cheered in the background at Dain's rants. 

Oh shut it, all of you.

"You hear that lads?! We're on! Let's give these bastards a good hammering!" Dain ordered his troops. He yelled something in Khuzdul that I was sure I didn't want the translation of.

So much for cooperation.  
Our army prepared, the shields and spears in front, and the archers behind them.  
My father approached Bard. "Stand your men down. I'll deal with Ironfoot and his rubble," he ordered.  
Bard however, ordered his men to stay.  
A legion of battle rams came walking out of the Dwarven army as the other squares of the Elvish army marched forward.

I didn't want to kill any Dwarves. I stood in between the squares but didn't move.  
My father ordered the archers to prepare their shots and hold position.  
"Thranduil, this is madness!" exclaimed Gandalf. I agreed, this was some mayor bullshit.

Orcs were coming, we were going to waste blood.  
"~Fire!~" ordered father.  
The arrows flew high into the air and were aimed at the rams that were coming our way.  
Dain yelled in Khûzdul and from the back of his army came something I had never seen before.  
Catapults had launched what looked like giant spinning poles with a blade on the front end, acting like a shield.  
They destroyed all of the arrows and took out a lot of Elves in their landing.

My father had not expected that, neither had I, we both looked at the fallen soldiers with so much shock that our jaws were unhinged.  
I regained my senses in time to hear Ironfoot retort. "Hey! How'd you like that? The old Twirly-Wirlies! Heheh, you buggers!" 

Must be an invention from somewhere in the past seventy years.  
"I don't like them at all!" I yelled, but my voice was overpowered by my father yelling an order to shoot again.  
That was not a call I would have made. If he didn't want the same thing to happen a third time, he should come up with something else. The goat riders were getting too close for my liking now.

"~Shield wall! Now!~" I ordered, running back to the army. I wasn't equipped to deal with this. To my surprise, the army followed my order. Maybe more out of habit than critical thinking. Though it had been a while.   
The front row of archers moved back and grabbed their spears and shields. The row that now was in front moved back and did the same, and the third row did the same as well, creating a sloped wall of shields that the rams ran over.  
Some got caught on the spears, others ran into the army, which moved like a liquid around them, avoiding them until those rams were caught on the spears as well. Some broke loose however, and rammed and killed the Elves in their path.

From there on out we mutually decided "~fuck this formation thing,~" and the battle turned into a bloody mess.  
I didn't want to kill anyone. So I hopped around mainly avoiding and disarming the Dwarves. I also ignored my father's call of "~what in the Valars' name are you doing?~"  
Then I heard a terrible sound. As if the Earth itself groaned in pain. Both armies stopped their fighting and turned to the source of the sound.  
In the distance, gigantic earth-eating worms burst through the surface.  
The worms retreated for some reason while they could have easily wiped all three armies out. It confused me until I heard Azog yelling in the distance.  
I looked at the dwarf whom I was in the process of disarming.  
"I'm going to let you keep this, you might need it," I commented before stepping away and making my way to my father as Orcs poured out of the holes.

A shield wall was made by the Dwarves, with their spears sticking out the holes. They were however, grossly outnumbered by the Orcs and the Elves had not moved an inch.  
This was not going to end well.  
"~Father!~" I yelled. He looked down at me. "~Do you not think we should help them?~" He opened his mouth to answer me but I cut him off.  
"~Don't give me the mortality talk or I will give you a morality talk!~" I cut him off yet again, in the common tongue this time. "If you don't order them to help the Dwarves now, I will kick you off that elk and do it myself."

Thranduil looked at the soldier closest to us. "~Do as she says,~" he ordered after a moment.  
And as one, the Elves ran over to shield wall and leapt over it in rows, killing the Orcs at the other side. The Dwarves broke the wall and charged forward.  
In the distance, I heard a low horn blare and turned toward the noise. Through one of the holes I saw a pole with four flag-looking things giving a signal. Then from the holes came another wave of Orcs, accompanied by battle Trolls and other such creatures.

Now we were talking.  
I raised my sword and charged to the holes. My father ordered the Elves that were still on this side to draw their bows and shoot.  
The horn sounded and the signalling device changed again. I stopped in my tracks as Orcs and Trolls streamed towards Dale.  
Divide and conquer, of course. These Orcs were well organised. I didn't like it. Not one bit.  
The Orcs had broken through the ranks now. I stopped disarming and was now fighting with the intent to kill quickly.

By the time I had killed about thirty, the Orcs started seeing me as a threat and targeted me. Which gave the unoccupied Elves time to shoot them. They were with too many though.  
An idea suddenly struck me.  
I jumped up and landed on the heads of two Orcs. Then I jumped to the next ones, and the next. All the way to a Troll with a catapult.  
When I reached it, I jumped high into the air, kicked the Orc on top of the Troll and demoted him to foot soldier. Then I pulled on one of the chains I saw being used to steer.  
I was now facing the tunnels and hoped that the catapult was powerful enough.  
I cut the rope that was holding the catapult's load back and the rock hurtled toward the Orcish legion that was still streaming out of the tunnels toward Dale.

I didn't stay on the Troll long enough to see my destruction. I swiftly dealt with it and jumped down onto an Orc with my sword sticking down.  
I managed to remain relatively unscathed until I took a blow to the back. The sword wound wasn't deep, but I didn't have time to heal it. I spun around and decapitated the Orc before I ran off, shooting a few arrows while I was at it. In the adrenaline rush, I was unbothered by the pain.  
I looked back at Dale and saw that it was being overrun by Orcs. I would have helped them, but I was on the other side of the battlefield and an entire army of Orcs was between me and Dale.  
It seemed that I was to defend the mountain. It also seemed that my friends would be of no help whatsoever.

Fine. I got this. I hope.  
"Could you at least shoot arrows at the Orcs!?" I yelled to the rampart. No one was on it, and I got no reply.


	28. Don't worry, I am a graceful Elf.

My quiver was running low and so was the army of Elves and Dwarves. The men were nowhere in sight, neither were my father or Gandalf, and I could only hope Legolas was safe at home.  
I had caught a few more blows and was half-blinded by a trickle of blood that ran into my eye. I was growing tired of my labour intensive fighting style. The jumping around all over the place was very exhausting.  
One good thing was that my hair was still looking good, I think. It was still waving around and getting in my face.

Until it wasn't. I was fighting a particularly big orc who had the sense to disarm me and force me to the ground before I could reach for plan B. I crawled backwards as much as possible until I backed against the bodies of two dead Elves who were slumped over each other. The top one was missing his head and the bottom one had a final look off despair frozen on his face and a gaping hole in the back of his head. They were holding hands in a final goodbye and were laying in a pool of their own blood.  
While the Orc was moving his sword in for the kill, I spied an abandoned sword just out of reach. If I could just grab it.

A Dwarf that was deeply locked in battle with an Orc that was as, if not more fearsome than my own adversary flew by and kicked the sword another meter or so out of reach.  
I focussed on the Orc in front of me again. I was going to die at his hands and there was nothing I could do about it. He knew, and gave me time to let it sink in, but no room to reach for any other weapon that I might have on me.  
This was the end. Might as well accept it. I looked at the Orc and let my angry expression relax and fell back against my dead allies. I had no one to hold on to as I died. I would die alone.  
One thing about Orcs is they always drag out their executions. I felt the tip of the Orcish blade against my throat. He swung it aside and drew a little blood already. I closed my eyes and braced for the finishing blow, but it never came.

"You bugger!"  
I opened my eyes and saw the Orc falling to his knees and slumping sideways, revealing Dain.  
He held out his hand. "You alright there, you pointy-eared princess?"  
"Aside from the mental scarring and physical injuries, you mean? I'm good." 

I took his hand and pulled myself up. I grabbed my sword from where it lay a couple meters away.  
"Thank you, for saving my life," I thanked Dain as I engaged an Orc close to him while he held three others at bay. I made quick work of it and blocked an oncoming blow, stabbing it's dealer in the stomach with my freshly unsheathed dagger.  
"You seemed about ready to give up," Dain grunted while giving one of the Orcs a punch in the face.  
"It wasn't that obvious was it?" I said while decapitating two Orcs with one swing. "What were we fighting about again?" I added as I pressed my back against Dain's and killed another Orc.  
"I don't remember, I just hope it's over before we are."  
"On that we agree."

The battle drove us apart again. The Orcs drove me further in the direction of the mountain. Even though I managed to pick a few of them off, my quiver was empty now and I was fighting with two daggers as they could be swung quicker than swords. Plus, the daggers were Elvish and cut up Orc nicely.  
I was in more danger now because I had to get closer to my enemies in order to slay them. The Dwarves were nearly spent. Most of the Elves had fallen back to Dale, there were still some of them here, but they were few and far between.

"Fall back! Fall back to the mountain!!"   
Both Elves and Dwarves carried out my order. Our numbers were thinning even as we retreated. It looked like we hadn't made a dent in the Orcish army.  
"Where do these fucking fucks keep coming from?!" I yelled in frustration. My bleeding all over the place had stopped but I wasn't feeling any better for wear.

Another blast of a horn cut through the air like a hot knife through butter. The Orcs regrouped. The air was foul with the stench of blood and death.  
Dain and the few remaining Dwarves set up a desperate last resort shield wall against the moat that blocked off Erebor. He didn't have enough men left to form an effective one. I ordered the Elves to stand behind them and shoot the Orcs with the few arrows that they had left.

The Orcs suddenly stopped as they gloated over us. Wicked sneers as if they were envisioning the ways in which they were going to kill us.  
I envisioned it too. It didn't give me a wicked sneer. More of a terrified expression.  
There was no way we were going to live through this.

The Orc horn sounded again and the Orcs slowly marched forward.  
Suddenly, another horn sounded, from behind us. When I turned my head to see, Bombur was standing on the rampart, blowing on a large battle horn that wrapped around him.  
The Orcs stopped in confusion.  
"Thorin..." I whispered. Had he regained his senses? Or was this a mutiny? 

Suddenly, a giant golden bell smashed through the barricade, leaving a path out to the battle field.  
When the dust had settled, Thorin and the rest rushed out, fully armoured and with drawn swords.  
Thorin shouted something in Khuzdul and I followed it up with my own order to the five Elves that I still had here.  
"To arms!" I cried while holding one of my daggers aloft. The company smashed through the Orc ranks, who had begun to move again.

"Dawn!" Thorin called as he fought his way over to me.  
"Thorin!" I called back as I did the same. While Thorin sounded relieved, I sounded pissed off.  
When I finally reached him I smacked him upside the head. "Who knocked the sense into you?" I retorted, before pressing my forehead to his. He pulled me into a brief hug before we went back to killing Orcs.

"There are too many of them, Thorin. Do you have a plan?" I asked him while I thrust my daggers forward and stabbed two Orcs, who fell lifelessly to ground when I pulled them back.  
Thorin looked up at the hill where the signalling device was. "Aye, we're going to take out their leader."  
"Good, seeing Azog dead at my feet has been on my to do list for quite a while now."

Thorin mounted a goat that came running up. "I'm gonna kill that piece of filth," he growled.  
"Not if I get there first," I copied his growl with one of my own.  
"How do you plan to fight your way to Ravenhill with just the two of you?" Dain had fought his way over to us.

A chariot pulled up, with Balin, Dwalin, Fili and Kili inside it. I jumped on as well. "We won't have to," I promised.  
"Been a while since I've done this. Hold tight lads!" Balin said as he was holding the reins.  
"You're all bloody mad!" exclaimed Dain as we rode off.  
"Well thank goodness for that! Otherwise this would never work!" I yelled over my shoulder.

We rode to Ravenhill, flattening the Orcs that got in our way. We were quite fast with eight rams pulling us.  
"How does your hair still look this good?" asked Kili while he was sharpening a blade on the wheel.  
"Really Kili? Now?" I asked incredulously as I stole one of his arrows to shoot one of the Wargs that were chasing us.

I strapped my smallest dagger to my boot so the point stuck out. It would probably be of use later.  
The signal changed again and now six trolls came charging up to us. They were arranged in front of a small ledge. "Balin, aim for the ledge!" I suggested.  
He steered straight at the trolls and we flew over their shoulders, brutally decapitating them and spraying black blood everywhere.

At least they weren't in the way anymore, but those few seconds, among other things, would haunt my dreams for years to come. If those years actually did come.  
Then a very big, heavily armoured Troll stormed our way. Balin made a very sharp turn and avoided it by a hair. It did cause us to fall on the frozen river. The rams slipped and slid a bit at first but quickly found their balance and followed Thorin, who was running ahead of us on the river.

Our weaponised wheels grinded against the stone river bank as Dwalin reloaded the crossbow, just in time too, as the armoured troll jumped into the ice behind us. He broke through and made us nearly fall over.  
It blundered after us as Kili tried to find a place to effectively aim and kill the thing.

Dwalin's patience ran out as it nearly hit us. "Shoot it!"  
"Where?" Kili questioned.  
"In its jam bags!"  
Kili turned around to face Dwalin. "It doesn't have any jam bags!" He tried to sound serious, but he had a smile on his face.  
I would have smiled too if the Troll hadn't had an intent to kill us. Unfortunately, it did.

"Hold on lads, I'm coming!" yelled Bofur, riding a Troll with maces for hands and feet. It smashed its hands into the face of the armoured Troll and our biggest concern beside Azog was gone.  
"Bofur, you beauty!" I heard Fili yell over all our other cries of celebration.  
Dwalin shot at a Troll ahead of us. It was carrying a bridge full of Orcs over its head and stood to his waist in the water. When it noticed Dwalin's repeated shooting at its armoured back, it turned around and spotted us, throwing off a few Orcs in the process.

When it turned around, it exposed an uncovered area at it's throat, which Dwalin quickly shot.  
"These Trolls are even thicker in the skull than the ones in the forest," I asserted. My voice was lost under the grinding of the wagon wheels against the back armour of the Troll though.

I stole another arrow from Kili and nocked it in my bow. Up ahead Wargs jumped onto the ice. I shot one, but the rest made us lose our front two goats. That caused a significant drop in speed which made the Warg riders behind us catch up.  
I quickly bent down and strapped a dagger to my other boot. My timing, as always, was impeccable. As Balin bid us to hold on, we jumped down a small water fall and I hit my head on the side off the chariot.

There was now an Orc riding beside us, swinging his sword at us.  
I grabbed the edge of the chariot firmly and swung my legs at the Orc's general direction. I felt its sword cut in the flesh of my leg but a mere moment later the daggers strapped to my feet impaled the Orc's unprotected neck and it fell off its Warg.  
If it hadn't been for Fili, it would've pulled me with it. As a thanks Fili was now smeared in both Elvish and Orcish blood. He looked rather annoyed at that fact.

More Wargs and riders caught up, but we killed them relatively easily. We flattened one between the cliffside and the fastly spinning mace.  
That image will also haunt me for a while.

More goats got picked off and more Wargs chased after us. With us losing speed, they would catch up quickly.  
"We're pulling to much weight," Dwalin told Balin. "we can't make it."  
Balin looked pensively for less than the wink of an eye, which was really all the time we had.  
"Cut the trasures," he ordered. "Ride up to Ravenhill." He sounded emotional, as if he condemned himself to death.

When I looked at the number of remaining goats, I saw that he had. We were one short.  
"What about you?" I asked him.  
"My goat riding days are over," he told me with a powerless smile.  
"No Balin," Dwalin tried to stop his brother from doing something stupid and dangerous. If it were me and Legolas, I probably would be the one about to do something stupidly dangerous.  
Like ride a goat to Ravenhill.

Dwalin put his hand on Balin's arm and nodded. Fili was the first to make it to a goat. He had to fend off a couple of Orcs to get there, but it didn't take long before he cut himself loose and sped away.  
Kili went next and then Dwalin, which went a bit smoother with no Orcs there to cut out their entrails.  
I turned to face Balin. He looked at me with a sorrowful smile. "We will see each other again lass, I'm sure of it."  
I copied the gesture Dwalin made and mounted the last goat before cutting it loose. The animal caught up with the others and we rode on till Ravenhill.


	29. Math with high stakes.

We sped down the frozen river like there was no tomorrow until we reached a stone bridge. Thorin was riding over it. He pointed his sword to Ravenhill. "Onwards!"  
"Lead on!" Dwalin shouted from a short way's ahead of me. We clambered onto the bank and followed Thorin.

There were still more Orcs. It honestly was a miracle that they didn't rule Middle Earth yet, what with their sheer numbers and 'mighty' leaders like my father or the Stewards of Gondor who can't give a rat's arse about what happens outside their borders.  
Then again, it wasn't that much of a miracle, because we cut and battered through them like butter. At this rate, I dare say I cut through butter like I cut through Orc.

We finally reached the top of the hill. Jumping gracefully, sort of, down our goats with ours weapons drawn, ready for battle.  
Whatever I'd expected, it was not this. The hilltop lay abandoned. The crumbling tower of stone didn't look much more lively. If it wasn't for the flattened snow and the stench of Orc, I'd say that no one had been here in a century. I knew better of course.

"Where is he?" Thorin asked no one in particular.  
Kili inspected the entrance to the tower. "Looks empty, I think Azog has fled!" he concluded.  
"He's made it very clear that he wants to kill the three of you, with his last breath if he must. It seems highly unlikely that he would flee now that you're pretty much gift-wrapped on his doorstep," I reasoned.

"Agreed. Fili, take your brother. Scout out the towers. If you see something, report back. Do not engage, do you understand?" Thorin ordered.  
Kili looked annoyed that Thorin had mistaken him for his brother, but didn't mention it as he made for the tower followed by Fili. They went inside.  
"We've got company! Goblin mercenaries, no more than a hundred!" yelled Dwalin while unsheathing his sword.  
Thorin gave me his quiver, which was still brimming with arrows, without a word. I took it and cast my own, empty quiver aside. He nodded and turned to the Goblins.  
"Piece of cake," I smirked, swinging my sword in my hand and a dagger in the other.

I didn't charge at the Goblins like Thorin and Dwalin. I waited until they came to me. Then I slashed and spun circles for no more than five minutes before they were all dead.  
We stood there with dead Goblins laying around our feet, looking around wildly for any late-comers.  
Even though it was for only a few minutes, it was intense, and I had already been fighting pretty much non-stop for hours, so I was heaving for breath and leaning on my sword.  
"Where is that piece of filth?" asked Dwalin angrily as he looked around.  
Suddenly, Bilbo appeared out of thin air. "Thorin..."

"Bilbo!" Thorin was relieved that Bilbo was still alive. So was I.  
"You have to leave here! Now! Azog has another army attacking from the North. This watchtower will be completely surrounded. There'll be no way out!" Bilbo explained rapid fire.  
"We are so close. That Orc scum is in there! I say we push on," argued Dwalin.

It was then that something clicked in my head. I hit myself in the face with the palm of my hand. "Oh, stupid! I should have realised sooner!" I exclaimed.  
The guys looked puzzled. Well, all except Bilbo. "Realised what sooner?" asked Thorin, confusion and concern thick in his voice.  
"The suddenly abandoned hill, the Goblins attacking when we split up, It's a trap!"

Thorin's eyes widened in realisation. "Find Fili and Kili! Call them back! We live to fight another day!"  
We hadn't finished, or drums sounded from the tower. As we turned to look at the top, Azog dragged a bloodied Fili and held him up by the throat for us to see.  
When he spoke, he did in a guttural version of the common tongue, he wanted us to know what he said.  
"This one dies first, then the brother, then you, Oakenshield. You will die last." He lifted Fili higher in the air and sneered at him. "Here ends your filthy bloodline," he said while raising the sword he had for a hand.

I quickly looked from the top of the tower to the ground and back, running all sorts of calculations in my head. The distance wasn't enough to kill Fili, were he to be dropped now. Severely wounded, yes, but not dead. Near death I could save, death itself was beyond my powers.

I quickly drew my bow. "Not if you die first!" I pretended to shoot Azog's arm. He was expecting me to, as he used Fili as a shield. What he was not expecting however, is that I wouldn't aim to kill, opting for his knee instead, which lay unprotected by Fili's weakening body.

In shock more than pain, Azog dropped Fili, who had the sense to try and slow his fall down by clawing at the wall. He still landed with a sickening thud though.  
I rushed to help him, already singing healing charms. When I reached him, I saw that my hasty calculation had been correct, he was near death, but not quite there yet.  
I put both of my hands on his cheeks and sang the healing songs again, louder and more determined this time. I heard Thorin and Dwalin skidding to a halt behind me. I wanted to scream at them that they should either kill Azog while he's still in the tower, or find Kili, who hadn't shown up yet. But doing either thing would cost Fili's life, so I didn't even shoot them pointed look while I continued chanting, alternating between spells and charms that seemed to have no effect.  
I refused to pause to catch my breath for even just a second. Fili's breathing was alternating between short, shallow gasps to deep pained moans. But at least he was breathing.  
Eventually his breathing levelled, and I sat back and a sigh of relief escaped me.

"KILI!!"

Thorin's voice was drenched in fear. He looked up at a hole in the wall where Kili must have just disappeared.  
I dashed for the tower, chasing after him. Thorin called after me, but I ignored him.  
Following Kili wasn't hard. Simply follow the trail of dead Orcs up the stairs. I didn't shout for Kili's name because by the sheer number of fresh corpses, I could tell that he needed to spend his undivided attention to getting upstairs alive, I just hoped to catch up to him before he reached Azog, talk him out of it, or even drag him down stairs and convince him that his brother was alive. Not well, but alive.

I heard someone else that did call out to Kili, Tauriel. I quickened my pace. If anyone was going to distract Kili and get him killed, it was her. She couldn't know, of course, but I couldn't help feeling a bit of frustration toward her bubble up in stomach.  
I quickly rounded the corner to see Kili jumping out of a hole in the wall to Tauriel, who was fighting what looked like Azog's second in command, just as strongly built and just as ugly.

I groaned and stamped my foot to the ground before running after him again.  
Tauriel lay stunned against a wall and Kili had jumped on the big Orc's back and began slashing him with his knife.  
I was within throwing distance when the Orc grabbed Kili by the head. Knowing he couldn't escape and that Tauriel couldn't help, he began to drag out his killing of Kili.

What he didn't notice was my dagger flying straight to his heart until it had sunken up to the hilt. He dropped Kili in shock and I halted behind the Orc, who was now on his knees.  
I angrily twisted the knife more times than was necessary before I pulled it out and let the brute fall over, dead.  
Kili jumped up and ran to me to thank me. I stopped him by putting my hand in his face and pointed at Tauriel, who was looking worse for wear. Not wounded per se, but in extreme pain. Something I could do nothing about.  
Kili nodded and went to her side, cradling her in his arms. I looked at them before I remembered that there was a third Durin. One whom I shouldn't have forgotten at all.

Thorin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops accidentally repeated a chapter there, fixed it though.


	30. I am too stubborn to die.

I tried to find my way back to Thorin at the base of the tower. When I got there, I saw Dwalin fighting too many Orcs and Bilbo holding Fili down. Which was for the best, because Fili should definitely not fight right now.  
I helped Dwalin out with the Orcs. "Where's Thorin?" I managed when he was in earshot.  
"Out on the pond fighting Azog no doubt!" he returned.  
"The absolute madman! You can manage this?"  
"Might be able to."  
"Good, because I'm going to help Thorin and afterwards, I'm gonna kill him."

I fought my way to the lake. Thorin was not there fighting Azog, but a small legion of Orcs. I had a few Orcs following me around as well.  
Neither groups were trying to kill us, or just did a very bad job. The Orcs targeting me weren't great in numbers, but coordinated their attacks in such a way that it kept my arrows from Thorin's group. They weren't smart enough to simply steal my quiver, and I wasn't sharp enough to be able to dispatch of them quickly.  
Then it struck me, they were preparing us for Azog, exhausting us, while Azog sat back and waited for the opportune moment: when we would be too weak to fight on our own.

At least I assume that Azog wanted my blood streaming over his own blade, much as he did Thorin's. It would explain why the Orcs were just jumping at me. I'll have to admit, I was kind of proud that I had annoyed him that much.  
They had driven me around the pond so that I could clearly see the tower tumbling down and forming a bridge underneath the waterfall of ice leading away from the frozen pond. Legolas was fighting his share of Orcs on it.  
I let a sigh of relief at the news that he was alive but tore my eyes away quickly. What the hell was he doing here anyway? 

The intense healing of Fili and then chasing after Kili had exhausted me considerably. Add that to a few hours worth of running and jumping around, fighting, more jumping, high velocity goat riding, more fighting, getting thrown of a balcony and a week's worth of near sleepless nights and you can conclude that I was fairly tired.

I had only managed to kill three of the fifteen Orcs attacking me, but they weren't aiming to kill, just to further tire me out and keep me from helping Thorin. Or maybe they were aiming to kill but I just refused to die.  
I killed one more, and another quickly after, I didn't use my bow, only my daggers and my sword. The arrows were for someone else.  
The attacks of the Orcs increased in ferocity to make up for their diminishing numbers. Soon I found myself not counter attacking anymore, just blocking.

I heard the tower- the bridge collapsing into the chasm, but I couldn't spare a look. One Orc miscalculated his jump and so I was able to kill it. The next one made the same mistake.  
With a burst of confidence, I managed to kill the Orcs until there were only five left, then turned the tables and tired them out. Dragging out time until Azog showed his face.

My plan was to pretend that I was too preoccupied with the five remaining Orcs, making Thorin a higher priority target, as a quick glance his way proved that his Orcs were nearly spent too, so Azog would turn his back on me and I could shoot him before he even reached Thorin.  
To make it look believable, I let one of my assailants slash my leg. It slashed my face as well. I hadn't accounted for that and he only missed my eye by a hair.  
Then I went back to blocking the attacks that were slowly decreasing in both number and ferocity.

The blood streaming in my eye was half-blinding me. That was slightly inconvenient, as I was planning to shoot accurately within hopefully the next two hours.  
It turns out that the Orcs were playing me too. I couldn't get rid of them.  
After what seemed like an eternity, Azog finally stepped onto the ice, facing Thorin.

They seemed pretty evenly matched, which was not good, because there was not going to be victor of this battle. Not Azog and not Thorin.  
I was too preoccupied with the few Orcs that were left to get a clear shot at Azog, who did not seem to have noticed me yet, which was good, because he wouldn't feel the excessive need to get Thorin between him and me, which would create a risk of me shooting Thorin. Even though that risk was very small, I still couldn't take it, which he likely knew.  
Thorin had also not yet seen me, which was unfortunate, as he wouldn't feel the need to keep Azog's back turned to me.

I took longer than I should have dispatching of the Orcs. By the time I had though, neither Azog nor Thorin had noticed me yet. They were still turning circles around each other.  
When Azog's back was turned, I notched an arrow in my bow, but the sudden blaring of a far away horn startled me, which caused my shot to be so inaccurate, it almost surprised me that I hadn't hit myself.

It was nowhere close to Thorin and Azog, so neither of them heard it embedding itself in the ice over the sound of the horn.  
Azog squared his shoulders and I guessed that he was smirking as looked over the hills in the distance.  
The sight made me want to curl up into a ball and scream, curse and cry all at the same time. The hills were black with Orc reinforcements, at least a thousand of them, probably much, much, more.

Azog charged forward and swung a large rock attached to a chain at Thorin, who, thank the Valar, wasn't caught off guard and ducked under it.  
As Azog was unbalanced by the swing, Thorin managed to get behind him and slash him. Azog angrily swung the rock at him again, and as Thorin dodged, the rock smashed into the ice, cracking it in a starry shape where it landed. Then in a huge crack from the point of impact to my arrow.  
I guess it was a powerful shot then.  
Thorin was now in between Azog and me. I didn't dare shoot now, lest I hit Thorin. I tried to wipe the blood out of my eye. Wiping away dried blood is easier said than done, and painful if one loses their patience and starts rubbing aggressively.  
When I'd recovered from the spots in my eye, I loaded my bow a second time. I stood up too fast, which caused the only just closed wound on my leg to reopen.

I ignored it and waited until I got a clear shot again. The ice continued cracking as the two arch enemies continued fighting, and as I didn't get another clear shot I scanned around for another weak point in the ice.  
I found a point where there should be a lot of tension and shot it powerfully.   
The ice cracked further which caused Thorin and Azog to pause for a bit. Azog then swung his chained stone at Thorin again, missed and cracked the ice so much that they were now on a loose chuck of it, drifting in the middle of the spring.  
Azog swung the rock and missed again. The rock was stuck in the ice now so Azog had to slash at Thorin with his sword arm. Thorin dodged again.

I chose this as the opportune moment to shoot Azog in the chest. It didn't hit any vital organs I think, because he didn't drop dead, he just yelled in pain and anger. They both noticed me now.  
I took the opportunity to be a little dramatic.  
"What happened to Oakenshield dies last?" I challenged while pushing my hair out my face.  
Azog looked more annoyed than frightened, which was not what I was going for. Thorin saw Azog's distraction as a good excuse to slash his leg.

Instead of screaming again Azog looked shocked. His eyes were focussed on a point past Thorin. I thought it was at me first. Until I heard the screech of an Eagle.

Way to steal my moment, but thanks I guess...

When they had flown over, I saw that they were carrying Radagast the Brown and Beorn. They would be good assets to our depressingly small army.  
Azog really had an attention span that was worse than Kili's. Thorin used that to his advantage. He threw his sword down and reached forward, lifting the rock by the chain and tossing it at Azog.  
Out of reflex more than thought, he caught it. Realisation dawned on him the moment Thorin hopped off the ice floe.  
Without Thorin's weight to counter Azog's, the floe tipped over and Azog slid down. He clawed at the edge of the ice sheet but eventually the chain and rock dragged him under and the ice levelled.

Thorin sighed in relief and exhaustion. I limped down the bank and tried to make my way over to him. I had lost more blood than was ideal and had to slow down because I was feeling dizzy.  
I didn't slow down though and collapsed in Thorin's waiting arms. He helped me stand up straight before grabbing my face and pulling me back down into a passionate kiss.


	31. I don't have a witty chapter title either.

For once I didn't have witty, snarky or sarcastic comeback. Not even a regular one. I just stood there, wide-eyed. Like a doe staring down an arrow.  
Thorin pulled back disappointed when I didn't return the kiss. My mind cleared when I shook myself. My face and ears were completely red. You know how I regularly wasn't that good at being a well composed Elf?  
Ahem, well. I'm still not.

Thorin only noticed when my shaking hand gently pushed his chin up.  
I crashed my lips on his and held his face in my hands. His lips moved against mine, his beard tickling my chin. One of his hands found my hair, the other remained protectively around my waist, as if someone would drag me away from him.  
Fat chance, they would have to get through me first. And I wasn't going to let that happen.

Suddenly, our beautiful moment was ruined when Thorin got stabbed through the foot. Azog broke through the ice and pinned Thorin down before stabbing him in the chest.  
It all happened so fast that I didn't have time to react. When I finally did, I got up from where I had fallen on my ass and grabbed Orcrist from where it still lay on the ice. In a flash of furious outrage I leapt at Azog, who still had Thorin pinned.  
I slashed at his good arm and managed a deep cut on his back before I got him off Thorin and facing me. I was terribly outmatched, Azog was about twice as tall and thrice as broad as me. His arms were about the same width as my whole body. I was desperate enough to still try though. If I was to die today, I would take him with me.

Azog seemed to realise how grossly unfair the whole situation was. And he loved it. I yelled louder than I ever had, hacking away at Azog, with a one-handed sword that I had to hold with two. He blocked my most every move. He could have done it with his hand if the sword wasn't Elvish. The only advantage I had was my speed, he wasn't able to get a single hit in as he had to block mine. We spun around each other in circles, careful not to slip on the ice.  
My speed...

I noticed the distance between Azog's legs as he was a bit hunched over as to not let me worm Orcrist into his stomach.  
We'll have to see about that...  
I dove under his legs as he swung his mace down at me, and I quickly turned, jumped and kicked my daggers into Azog's back. It wasn't deep enough to kill him, but now I was high up enough to attempt another method.  
The mace was stuck in the ice, and the sword could not reach me. I reared up, and plunged Orcrist through Azog's back. I gave it a twist and it's blue light started flickering. I pulled the sword out and jumped off him. As he was hunched over to my height, doubled in pain, I stared him in eyes.  
The burning cliff battle came to mind, only now I had gained the upper hand. "I kept my word," I growled, before raking Orcrist across his neck and decapitating him.

No one fucks with those I hold dear, except for me.

My fury subsided when I heard Thorin's pained moan. I turned around and ran to him, albeit wobbly and trembling.  
He reached out to me with his hand and it dropped before I could grab it.  
I tried to keep a level head as I carefully dragged him to the shore. On the way there I was singing all the healing chants I knew of.

When I laid him down his eyes opened for a brief moment and he looked at me in pain. That pain transferred to me and nestled itself as fear deep within my heart.  
I knelt over him and put my hands on the gaping wound on his chest. I sang everything I even remotely remembered and went over each and every one of the chants and charms twice and even a third time.

I broke out into sobs halfway through the first song, but I continued. The irregular rising and falling of Thorin's chest slowed down gradually, until I wasn't certain that he was even breathing at all.  
I wasn't normally afraid of death. Before it took my grandmother when I was younger I didn't even know what it was. But boy, did I fear it now.  
"Pull yourself together, Dawn!" I ordered myself, focussing next on getting the chants absolutely correct down to the most minute pronunciation difference through the ages.  
After the next couple of songs I was certain of it though. I couldn't face it, seeing him like this. I broke down completely and sobbed loudly into his chest. Even my magic could only do so much.

"Dawn.." Thorin's weak voice was heavy with pain.  
I gasped and shot up. Looking him in the eyes.  
"I'm glad you're here," he continued. I beckoned him to be quiet, to save his breath, but he wouldn't have it.  
"I wish to part from you on good terms."  
"No. No. You're not going anywhere. You're not leaving me. I won't let you," I panicked. That was audible in my voice as I began chanting again, faster this time.  
"I would take back my words and my deeds at the gate. You did what only a true friend would do. Forgive me, I was too blind to see. I'm so sorry that I have led you into such peril."  
"Save your breath you idiot! I have long since forgiven you!" I cried between chants.  
He coughed badly and I smelled blood on his breath, but no blood came out. If only he could hang on for a bit longer. I started singing faster.  
Thorin smiled at me. "If more people valued love and companionship over gold, this world would be a merrier place.  
Farewell Dawn the Huntress. My love."

I sang even faster as I felt his breathing slow down again. When I had gone through every single song I knew more times than I cared to count, I collapsed.  
"I love you too," I whispered.  
All the pain from my wounds hit me at once. I screamed in pain and sobbed in sorrow. I may have alerted Orcs and the like to my presence, but I didn't care. Thorin was gone. What meaning did life still have for me? I had no home, the man I loved was murdered in front of my eyes and physically I felt like every breath I drew could be my last. It wouldn't matter to me. Maybe I'd get to see Thorin again. 

The amount of blood I lost made me dizzy, and I should really get to healing that, but I didn't. I was too distraught.  
"I miss you already," I whimpered.  
I heard footsteps behind me, a few pairs, but I didn't turn my head to see whose they were. Only when two hands were laid on my shoulders did I look up.  
Legolas was crouched beside me. Behind him I could see Fili leaning on Dwalin. Kili burying his face into Tauriel's neck while she comforted him. Balin looking sadder than I'd ever seen him. And Bilbo, who wasn't even able to look at Thorin, staring off into the distance where the Eagles were winning our battle for us.  
The rest of my view was blocked by Legolas. He wordlessly pulled me into a comforting embrace. I cried into his shoulder until I heard someone cough his lungs out in front of me.

Legolas got up and did a few steps back to let the rest of the dwarves through and to give us some space.  
Thorin's wound hadn't closed yet, and with the size of it, that would take some time. When he'd stopped coughing, he propped himself up on his elbows and looked at me with a mischievous glint in his eyes.  
"I'm sorry if I scared you," he joked. His voice was still weak, but it was getting better.  
"That was a bit dramatic, don't you think?" I managed to get out.  
"Want to give that kiss another try?" he asked.  
I was still crying, but for different reasons now, reasons I could finally place. I loved him. I truly loved him.  
"When I'm finished nursing you back to health, I'm going to kill you."  
Thorin caressed my hair. "You'll have to catch me first."  
"You won't be going anywhere like that."  
I kissed his forehead and took a step back to let the other Dwarves and Bilbo see Thorin. After a bit of banter, Balin and I helped him up and half carried him back to Erebor. I could barely stand upright myself, but I didn't care, Thorin lived and the Orcs had scattered.

-~-

After a while we went to see Bilbo and Gandalf off. They didn't wish to feast and sing with us. Legolas also left, to find someone named Strider, whoever that may be.  
The rest of us, we dined and feasted in the halls of Erebor. The other Dwarves didn't protest when Tauriel and I asked to stay there after the feasting was done. Apparently, she had been banished too. We also helped in the rebuilding of Erebor, which went quite fast.

Tauriel and Kili were quick to get married and even have a child. A beautiful little girl with red hair and blue eyes. They named her Kahlahari, in my honour, since I preferred to be called Dawn anyway. She was taller than Kili at age ten. I only stopped teasing him about that when she was taller than me at age sixteen.

Thorin and I only got married when the rebuilding of Erebor was completely finished. The service was big and all out in front of the gates of Erebor. The members of the company had quite the heated conversation about who would walk me down the aisle. They had unanimously decided that my father was not the one to do it. They decided to have Legolas do it, but he let us know via a letter that he wasn't sure if he was going to make it. In the end, Balin was the one to do it.  
Despite my better judgement, I'd invited my father too, because all the kings, queens, lords, ladies and regents were of Middle Earth were invited. And though he was initially against it, he did show up. Legolas wrote us that he could make it after all. The wedding was a blast and I became the queen under the mountain.

Thorin and I had a son. We were going to name him after my grandfather, but we decided not to for the sole reason that his name was Oropher. So we named him Merryn instead. He looked like me, well, sort of. He was blond and looked very Elvish. He even grew to be taller than me. I have tall genes! His eyes were like Thorin's. Merryn did not grow up to have much of a beard. Thorin was proud to have the best beard of the family, until our daughter came.  
We named her Lai, after my mother. She was not taller than me at any point throughout her life. She looked like Thorin in every way except for her eyes, which were like mine. She relentlessly teased Thorin about her having a better beard than him by the time she was twelve. So did I.

Both of the children would get into all sorts of trouble. Like parent, like child, I'd say.  
After that, my relationship with my father improved a lot. He wasn't the type of grandfather to spoil his grandchildren, but he let them know he loved them in other ways. We still didn't like each other much, but for the children, we pretended that we did.

Every once in a while, the whole company got together at Bilbo's place for tea and stories. We made it a yearly tradition on the anniversary of the reclamation of Erebor. We did this until some of us were too old to travel. And even then some chose to come anyway.

Dreams of the war haunted me in my sleep, but Thorin was always there to comfort me, as I was there for him. I had finally found the place where I belonged. A place I could call home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And... scene.
> 
> There's also a sequel if you're interested.


End file.
